People expect some lines at polling places, but Ross Township in Monroe County was an exception as people reported waiting up to four hours to vote.

Some pushed through, while others gave up because they had to pick up their children or go to jobs.

Linda Zak of Saylorsburg went early in the morning and waited three hours at the township building on Anchorage Road.

She posted on Facebook that there were no spaces left in the parking lot and cars were lining up to the road.

“We’ve overgrown our dinky polling place,” Zak said. “We must open another poll.”

An active Democrat, Zak said, “A commissioner told me that they have a difficult time finding places willing to host. I say we go back to using school gyms, as was done when I was a kid. They are just locked off from the school, and voters use the outside entrance.”

She said she has approached state Sen. Mario Scavello about the situation in Ross.

“He was against it for security reasons. That is an issue easily solved.”

The building is small. With social distancing, few could vote at a time.

“Ross has 3,850 voters. It looked like most of them showed up!”

Monroe County Commissioner John Christy went to the polling site late Tuesday afternoon to assist with organizing the flow.

“It helped to speed up the line,” Zak said, adding that people finished voting well after 9 p.m.

Tim VanBritsom was a late voter, who came from his job at Tobyhanna Army Depot at 6 p.m. When he saw the line, he asked his mom to drop him off so that he didn’t have to park along the dangerous street.

“The majority of people were upbeat,” VanBritsom said. When he did get into the building, there were some people in front of him who didn’t get their mail-in ballots so they had to take time to fill out provisional ballots.

There were three people to look up voter’s names and two machines to scan.

His mother, Teri VanBritsom, voted at Chestnuthill One, located at the West End fire house in Brodheadsville. There she helped disabled people gained quick entrance to the polls. She had a walker with a seat, because she said a constable was telling people that no canes were allowed, only people in wheelchairs.

At Ross, she saw a man with a motorized wheelchair driving along the road, where he could have been hit.

A constable at Ross was helping disabled people, but she was concerned about getting more venues for people to vote.

In all, she estimates she helped about 30 people who couldn’t stand in line.

“This could have been avoided,” she said. “We knew this election was going to be held. We have to find other venues.”

While people could vote ahead of time by mail, VanBritsom charged that the lines were not accommodating to people with health issues. “For whatever reason these people came in person,” she said, adding that voting in person seems geared to younger, able-bodied people. “If you can stand in line for three hours, you get to vote,” she said. “We have to do better.”

A perfect storm

By the afternoon, the wait was a four to five hour wait and people were calling the Monroe County Office of Elections and Voter Registration seeking an answer to why the wait was so long.

Several contributing factors to slow the voting down. Commissioner John D. Christy explained a new system was implemented at the polls.

“We replaced the voting books with iPads,” he said.

Ross had three polling books and the books were replaced with three iPads. You just told the voting official your name and they quickly pulled up your information. No more looking your name in the correct polling book and then signing in.

Normally the three iPads would have accommodated the voting, but it was a presidential election and voter turnout was so high the three iPads were not enough, according to Christy.

“As soon as I heard about the wait, I went to the poll and gave them my iPad to use and then I went home and brought back another iPad from my house and helped check voters in,” he said.

The problem was solved and by 9:15 everyone had cast their vote.

“For the most part voters extremely patient,” he said.

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Elsewhere

John Schaeffer shared his experience at the polls in Towamensing with his mother, who forgot to bring her walker with a seat.

“When we got to the polls I dropped her off and went to park the car. When I walked back across the street I went inside to ask for a chair for my mother to use,” Schaeffer said.

There were about 40 people. As he was walking back, a woman in line stopped him and offered to allow them to go ahead of her.

“This way your mother doesn’t have to worry about standing. Please go to the head of the line,” she said.

“I elevated my voice and thanked everybody in line,” he said. “I just would like to once again thank everybody that was in that line. It helped me remember that there is a lot of good in this world.”

In Chestnuthill Township, people reported waiting more than two hours in line.

Lines were the same throughout the region, depending on the time of the day.

In Carbon County, Lynn Shupp reported waiting in “the longest line I’ve ever stood in at Aquashicola (fire company), an hour wait. The people helping at the polls did a great job, some in line were first-time voters, and everyone was there to make sure their voice was heard.”

By noon, the wait at the Aquashicola Fire Company was less than 10 minutes.

At the Lehighton Orioles, throughout the day people waited nearly an hour.