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Voting is Just the Half of It: Obama supporters plan for Election Day
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Lynn Max and Barbara Lee at the Obama storefront
Crowds were milling around the Obama storefront on Broadway and 105th Street this afternoon. Everyone was getting ready for the big day. Some neighborhood folks stopped to buy buttons. Others came by to find out where their polling places would be. But most just wanted to know what they could do to help.
Inside, Lynn Max, a board member for the Three Parks Independent Democrats, was busy, directing volunteers. One group was being trained to do voter assistance, while another worked the phone banks. In front of the store, volunteers sat behind a row of folding tables, eager to sell buttons and talk.
Marcy Evans-Frank, who lives on West 67th Street, said she comes uptown to the 105th Street storefront to volunteer because she loves Obama. “I’ve made three trips to canvass voters in Pennsylvania,” she said, “and on Tuesday I got trained as a poll watcher. I’m going to do two shifts of poll watching tomorrow. I’m absolutely sure Obama will win.”
Next to her, Pamela Wood, who’d come up from West 76th Street, reminded everyone that the polls will open early—at 6 am. “I’ll vote, and then I’ll be back here from 8 to 10 tomorrow morning,” she said. “I’m crossing my fingers that Obama will win. If he does, I’m going to open a bottle of champagne and call all my friends. If he loses, I’ll cry.”
Fred Reichman, a psychologist who lives on West 93rd Street, had also stopped by to volunteer, and was busy trying to make everyone laugh. “I’ve cleared my calendar for Wednesday. If Obama wins, I’ll be hung-over from celebrating,” he announced. “If he loses, I’ll drink myself into oblivion.”
But then he turned serious. “Tomorrow, I’m going to start my day by voting early,” he said. “Then I’ll go to work for a few hours, before I come back here to help at the storefront. As a psychologist, I have some serious concerns about what will happen if Obama loses. At this point, the expectations that he will win are so high—based on the polling. If he loses, people may think the vote has been stolen. I’m seriously concerned about violence.”
Bundled up in a brightly colored sweater, Barbara Lee, a volunteer who lives on West 86th Street, was busily fielding questions from all directions. But she also took time to express some concerns.
“Since Labor Day, we’ve registered 6,438 people to vote—either here or at tables between 96th Street and 116th on Broadway,” she said. “In all of Manhattan, there have been a total of 50,000 new registrations. But the Board of Elections hasn’t been able to keep up with it,” she added, looking worried. “They haven’t been able to contact these people to tell them where to vote. And we’re afraid their names won’t be on the books when they do find their poling places.”
After voting herself, Barbara plans to spend the day at the storefront, helping newly registered voters figure out where to go and informing people that, if they registered, they have the right to vote by affidavit if their name doesn’t appear in the book.
“And in the evening, we’ve rented a big screen TV so all the volunteers can watch the election returns here,” she said. “This time, if there are any problems with the voting, I’m not going to watch CNN with my mouth open. I’m going to get on a bus or plane and go somewhere and scream until every last vote is counted!”
Walking up and down the pavement in front of the Obama storefront, Leon Henry from the Bronx was doing double duty. With one hand, he was giving out Obama brochures to passersby. With the other, he was distributing postcards advertising his new CD.
“I’m a vocalist. My artistic name is Rankin Cobra and I’ve got a new song about Obama,” he explained. “Tomorrow, after I vote, I’ll probably come back down here with an amp and play my song. I have faith that he’ll win. We need a change in America. We need world leaders who will sit down and talk. We need peace and we need jobs.”
For the folks at the Obama storefront on upper Broadway, democracy clearly entails a lot more than just pulling a lever.
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