City Hall is abuzz with energy compared with a typical Tuesday night. Intermittent drizzling hasn’t stopped more than 100 people, including voters, their children, poll workers, volunteers and security personnel from making the trek to the Voting Center on the ground floor. All around the building, helpers in red vests are waiting to assist.
Preetha Nath, a voter guide, said she’s “too swamped right now” to answer many questions, but noted that the center has been more or less busy throughout the day. “It’s picking up now,” she said, adding that there has been a lot of provisional voting. Eleven people are sprawled across the stairs that lead from the first floor down to the center, many with a phones in one hand and a ballot or pen in the other.
At the voting booths, the scene is much like that of students taking a standardized test: dozens of people, separated by gray dividers, diligently bubble in answers to questions about the city’s future.
It’s much quieter here than in the adjacent room, filled with the chatter of poll workers and voters. Every so often, one of the 40 poll worker stations lights up, indicating that that worker is ready to assist a new voter.
Outside, City Hall is awash in red, white and blue. Several people sporting rain protection are holding up signs that say “Connie Chan for Congress.” As the night wears on, the inflow shows no signs of slowing.
