Long Lines At Polling Places Across Area

Election day in the Levittown area led to what many poll workers called “unpresidented” turnout.

Leading up to election day, there were questions about how many people would turn up for in-person voting considering 199,206 of the county’s 488,010 registered voters received mail-in and absentee ballots.

Despite the pandemic, Bucks County was able to open all 304 polling places.

There were a few problems, aside from lines, reported at Levittown area polling places.

Election workers LevittownNow.com spoke with in Bristol Borough, Bristol Township, Falls Township, Langhorne Borough, Langhorne Manor Borough, and Middletown Township all noted very high turnout.

In 15 years going to this polling place in Langhorne, Bucks County I have never seen lines like this. It was about 7:40 and it stretched to the end of the parking lot. ⁦@WHYYNews⁩ #Election2020 pic.twitter.com/MBt8JXW8zx

— Eugene Sonn (@EugeneSonn) November 3, 2020

The longest lines came in the morning and again in the evening as people were done work for the day.

Voters this news organization spoke with reported lines ranging from 10 minutes to as long as two hours, but very few complained about the wait.

The longest wait time of between two to four hours came from the polling place at Herbert Hoover Elementary School in Middletown Township, according to readers.

At Bristol Township’s First Ward, Second District polling place in Croydon, almost 70 percent of voters had cast their vote either in-person or via mail-in or absentee ballot by 6:36 p.m.

In Langhorne Manor Borough, the lone polling place had more than 70 percent turnout as of 6 p.m.

Alicia Gasparovic, a Langhorne Manor Democrat, said the borough’s polling place saw largely Republicans arriving to vote in-person, but that was expected as the town has a large Republican population.

Langhorne Manor Republican Jim McMeeking said he saw a “good mix” of Republicans and Democrats coming to vote in person.

Since 2004, the highest election turnout reported in the county was 75.9 percent in the 2016 general election.

“You have to do your civic duty,” said Hassan Hunter, of Middletown Township, who waited for more than an hour to vote.

Jason and Kristy Shaulis didn’t mind waiting outside Neil Armstrong Middle School in Bristol Township to cast their ballots.

Looking at the line that stretched out of the building and along the front entry sidewalk, Jason Shaulis said he suspected the line likely looked even longer because voters were working to keep physical distance.

“Usually, we’re a lot closer together and jammed together,” he said.

The couple said they vote every year.

“It’s our duty,” Jason Shaulis said.

In Bristol Borough, Brian and Elizabeth Russell waited to cast their ballot Tuesday evening at the polling place inside the St. Ann Worship Site.

The couple said they wanted to vote in person and didn’t think the line of about three dozen people was too long. Although, they noted it was the longest they had ever seen at the polling place.

Elizabeth Russell noted she went to the polling place in the morning and it had a line that stretched around the block.

“My feeling is that this is about the president,” Brian Russell said about the line.

Cinnamon Boffa, who was waiting to cast her ballot in Middletown Township, said long waits and lines are not something that would stop her from voting. Like others, she called voting a civic responsibility.

At the mail-in and absentee ballot dropbox in Bristol Township, there was a steady movement of voters who were depositing their ballots before 8 p.m.

Nearby in the parking lot of the Lower Bucks Government Services Center, a large heated tent was set up so lower end polling places could drop off their votes that would then be loaded into a secure truck and taken up to the Bucks County Administration Building in Doylestown Borough for tallying.

County election officials have said there’s a good chance counting votes won’t be nearing completion until later in the week.

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