Current:Home > Contact-usFree pizza and a DJ help defrost Montana voters lined up until 4 a.m. in the snow to vote-LoTradeCoin
Free pizza and a DJ help defrost Montana voters lined up until 4 a.m. in the snow to vote
View Date:2024-12-23 21:22:10
Follow live: Updates from AP’s coverage of the presidential election.
BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — Stuck on a snowy sidewalk for hours after polls closed, voters in a Montana college town created an encouraging vibe as they moved slowly through a line leading to the ballot boxes inside the county courthouse.
They huddled under blankets and noshed on chips, nuts and pizza handed out by volunteers. They swayed to an impromptu street DJ, waved glow sticks and remembered a couple of truths: This is a college town and hanging out late at night for a good cause is fun — even in the teeth-chattering cold.
R-r-r-Right?
Hardy residents of Bozeman, Montana, queued along Main Street by the hundreds on election night, with Democrats, Republicans and independents sharing a not-so-brief moment of camaraderie and warmth to close out an otherwise caustic election season.
Among them, clad in a puffy down jacket and a thin pair of gardening gloves, was Davor Danevski, a 38-year-old tech worker. By early Wednesday morning, he’d waited almost five hours.
“The last two elections I missed because I was living abroad in Europe. I didn’t want to miss a third election,” said Danevski. “Too many people don’t take it as seriously as they should.”
Polls closed at 8 p.m. The last ballot was cast at 4 a.m. by an undoubtedly committed voter.
The long wait traces to a clash of Montana’s recent population growth and people who waited until the last minute to register to vote, change their address on file or get a replacement ballot. Many voters in the hometown of Montana State University were students.
The growth of Gallatin County — up almost 40% since 2010 — meant the 10 election workers crammed into an office were woefully insufficient to process all the last-minute voter registrations and changes.
“The building’s just not set up ... It’s not designed to hold all the people that Gallatin County has now for every election. So we need to do something about that,” County Clerk Eric Semerad said of the structure built in 1935.
As darkness descended, flurries swirled and temperatures plunged into the 20s (minus 15 degrees Celsius), Kael Richards, a 22-year-old project engineer for a concrete company, took his place with a friend at the back of the line.
He appreciated the food and hand warmers given out before he finally cast his vote at 1 a.m. By then, he estimated, he had been lined up between seven and eight hours.
“The people down there were super nice,” Richards said Wednesday. “We thought about throwing in the towel but we were pretty much at the point that we’ve already been here, so why not?”
The county clerk asked county emergency officials to help manage the crowd since it was snowing. They shut down a road by the courthouse and set up tents with heaters inside. “It was brilliant,” Semerad said.
The line’s precise length was hard to measure as it snaked along the sidewalk, into the road and through the tent. It continued up the courthouse steps, jammed through a doorway, wrapped around an open lobby, up some more stairs, between rows of glass cases filled with historic artifacts and finally into the office of late-toiling election workers.
In past elections, lines have gone past midnight, but never as late as Tuesday’s, Semerad said. Many waiting could have stepped out of line and cast provisional ballots but chose to stick it out.
As midnight came and went Danevski stood patiently waiting his turn to start up the courthouse steps. For him, the long hours were worth it.
“If you can, you should always try to vote,” he said.
___
Gruver reported from Cheyenne, Wyoming.
veryGood! (42427)
Related
- A pair of Trump officials have defended family separation and ramped-up deportations
- Greek army destroys World War II bomb found during excavation for luxury development near Athens
- Kaley Cuoco Shares How Her Approach to Parenthood Differs From Tom Pelphrey
- Israeli hostage released by Hamas, Yocheved Lifshitz, talks about ordeal, and why she shook her captor's hand
- 12 college students charged with hate crimes after assault in Maryland
- Kris Jenner Shares Why She Cheated on Robert Kardashian
- Nearly half of Amazon warehouse workers suffer injuries and burnout, survey shows
- Australian hydrogen company outlines US expansion in New Mexico, touts research
- Champions Classic is for elite teams. So why is Michigan State still here? | Opinion
- South Korea, US and Japan condemn North Korea’s alleged supply of munitions to Russia
Ranking
- John Krasinski Revealed as People's Sexiest Man Alive 2024
- Travis Kelce's Ex Kayla Nicole Reveals Why She Unfollowed Brittany and Patrick Mahomes
- Prosecutors drop charges against woman who accused Jonathan Majors the day after her arrest
- Russian drone debris downed power lines near a Ukraine nuclear plant. A new winter barrage is likely
- Pitchfork Music Festival to find new home after ending 19-year run in Chicago
- Kaley Cuoco Shares How Her Approach to Parenthood Differs From Tom Pelphrey
- 49ers QB Brock Purdy lands in concussion protocol, leaving status for Week 8 in doubt
- Gaza journalists risk everything to report on the Israel-Hamas war raging around them
Recommendation
-
Jeep slashes 2025 Grand Cherokee prices
-
J.J. Watt doesn't approve Tennessee Titans wearing Houston Oilers throwbacks
-
Medical exceptions to abortion bans often exclude mental health conditions
-
Active shooter situation in Lewiston, Maine: Police
-
Satellite images and documents indicate China working on nuclear propulsion for new aircraft carrier
-
Sports talk host Chris Russo faces the music after Diamondbacks reach World Series
-
Trump isn’t accustomed to restrictions. That’s beginning to test the legal system
-
Kyle Richards Admits She’s “Hurt” By Photos of Mauricio Umansky Holding Hands With Emma Slater