Election Day chaos: Some Washington Twp. voters spent 5 hours in line

By JEFF STITT

jstitt@yourmvi.com

Several voters in Washington Township say they waited in line four to five hours to vote Tuesday.

With their teeth chattering and their fingers numb from the cold, some voters were still waiting in line to vote at the township building at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Polls throughout the state were slated to close at 8 p.m.

Constable Kelly Parshall said lines were long at the polling place in Fayette County throughout the day Tuesday.

Voter Chet Burnside, who arrived at the polling place just before 8 p.m. and was the last person in line, said he was told just before 10 p.m. by a poll worker that it was estimated to be another hour and a half before he could go through the door of the polling precinct.

Neil Belan, who was a few people ahead of Burnside in line, said he arrived just before 8 p.m. and was still waiting in line as of 10:30. His brother, Jon Belan,    who cast his vote a few minutes before Neil arrived, told him he also had a long wait.

“He literally just got done and was here for five hours,” Neil said of his brother.

Asked if he planned to stay in line until his vote was cast, Zach Zadrozny, who arrived around 7:45 p.m., said “Oh, definitely.”

“We’ve come this far,” Burnside remarked.

“We’re here now. There’s no getting out of it. I’ll freeze to death,” Michele Horan said. “I just keep asking my friends to bring me breakfast for the morning because I’ll probably still be here. Thank God I’m retired.”

Horan said she’s lived in the township for 38 years and has never seen such a long line at the polling place.

Burnside concurred.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in my life,” he said.

Asked why he thinks the lines were so long, Parshall said, “There’s a lot of people voting, there’s only four people working the desk and it’s compounded by people that go through the line who are not registered to vote, and other provisional ballots and all of the above.”

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