Absentee voters line up to cast their votes early

Tom Lang was wrong when he guessed that Chesapeake's City Hall housed the registrar's office.

So on Saturday morning, he wandered from building to building in the government complex, absentee ballot application rolled up in his hand.

"Planetarium and Agriculture," the 54-year-old electrical engineer said, reading the sign on a building. "I don't think so."

He was one of hundreds of South Hampton Roads voters who went out in drizzly weather to cast an absentee ballot on Saturday, the first weekend day that voters could do so. Registrars' offices also will be open for in-person absentee voting this Saturday, Nov. 1.

Most said they hoped to avoid long lines and tedious waits predicted for Nov. 4. In some cities, they were successful.

Virginia Beach applicants waited no more than 20 minutes. And after three straight days of 200 absentee voters, Suffolk saw only 60 people by 3 p.m., said Burdette Lawrence, a deputy registrar. She attributed the drop to Saturday's visit by Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden.

"Yes, Lord, but they'll be back here Monday, full force," Lawrence said.

Norfolk saw another busy day.

In Chesapeake, workers said, Saturday's line was longer than usual, snaking out the door of the white, one-story building.

"I was not ready," said Melissa Bryant, a worker in the registrar's office. "There were at least 60 in the parking lot when I got here, and they haven't stopped."

The turnout didn't bother Brent Lukert. "I expected it to be worse," he said.

The 50-year-old systems support tech plan s to be out of town for Election Day and is accustomed to absentee voting from his time in the military.

After 30 minutes in line, he estimated another 30 minutes to wait. "I'm glad it's not raining," Lukert said.

In an election year when a record number of Virginians have registered to vote, the number of absentee ballots could be on track to exceed statistics from 2004. That year, 222,059 Virginia voters submitted absentee ballots.

As of Monday, 232,890 absentee applications had been approved, and 110,392 ballots had been received, according to the Virginia State Board of Elections.

Portsmouth Registrar Deloris Overton Short is tracking a big increase. Her city counted 1,764 absentee ballots in 2004. By Saturday morning, nearly 1,900 absentee ballots had been mailed out, and another 1,900 people already had cast absentee votes in person.

Voters began waiting outside her office around 8:30 a.m. Saturday.

Shirley P. Brown was first in line. She wanted to arrive before 9 a.m. because "you don't know how many will be here."

Brown, 71, wasn't sure she could get away from work to vote on Nov. 4. She runs her own day care.

"I always vote all the time," she said, "but it's very important this year because we need a change."

The single-file line squeezed through a door, and between a long counter and a row of partitioned voting stations.

Benjamin and Josephine Jones, ages 78 and 77, respectively, rested with their canes in nearby chairs as their daughter gathered forms and information for them.

Phyllis Williams didn't want her parents to endure long lines. Benjamin was recently in the hospital, and Josephine's hip bothers her.

"My daughter, she kept telling me, 'Come on, Mama. Come on, Mama. Don't keep putting it off,' " Josephine said.

By 10 a.m., 47 more absentee votes had been logged in Portsmouth.

In Chesapeake, Bryant estimated 200 absentee voters had come through the registrar's office by 11:30 a.m. Or maybe it was 300. She didn't have time to count.

Bryant sat at a desk in the front of the line, surrounded by boxes, clipboards and yellow highlighters. At some point, she'd slipped off her shoes.

She dispensed warm words with her voter forms. "All right, sweet pea," she said. "All right, doll-baby."

Lang, in his T-shirt depicting Curly of the Three Stooges, waited somewhere down the hall.

After an unsuccessful cell phone call to the registrar's office, he'd finally received directions from a worker in the public library.

He took his place in line in the parking lot, with 40 people ahead of him.

"I feel like I'm at Busch Gardens," Lang said.

Amy Jeter, (757) 446-2730, amy.jeter@pilotonline.com