Voters wrap around the perimeter of Friendly High School in Fort Washington, Md. (Photo by Alan King)

By Alan King and Sean Yoes
Afro Staff Writers

(November 4, 2008) - It was approaching 8 a.m. on Election Day and Denise Ward was standing in a long line at Friendly High School in Prince George’s County, wondering whether she would miss the W13 bus that departs Ft. Washington, Md. at 8:45 a.m. for Farragut North in the District of Columbia, about a block from her job.

Speaking to one of her two children on a cell phone, she said: “I don’t care if I have to stay here until tomorrow. I’m not leaving this line.”

And she didn’t. Ward waited for two hours and 30 minutes to cast her vote. By the time she voted, only the W14 bus was running from Ft. Washington, which meant she would have to take a bus to the Anacostia metro and then a train into work.

But she did not complain.  “Definitely a long time coming,” she said, referring to Barack Obama’s name being on the presidential ballot.

Clearly, she wasn’t the only one eager to vote.

Rows of cars and sport utility vehicles lined Allentown Road. About 1,000 residents stood in a line that filed out of the front doors of the school, curved around a flagpole and extended the length of the parking lot.

Instead of complaining about the long wait, some saw it as a badge of honor and, like Denise Ward, were determined to vote no matter how long it took.

One man said: “When I get in there, I’m going to hit the Obama button 100 times to make sure they count my vote.” Everyone around him laughed.

Don Grate had no plans to vote that many times for Obama. Once would do the job.  “I got a good feeling about this candidate,” he said. “Anything's better than what we've got.

“When I get in there, I’m going to hit the Obama button 100 times to make sure they count my vote.”

Although the atmosphere was festive at most polling places, many came prepared for a long wait. Some brought books to pass the time, many teens played music on their ipod and it seemed like every four or five voters were talking on a cell phone – some to other people in voting lines elsewhere.

Voting at West Baltimore’s Gwynns Fall Elementary School No. 60 normally takes 20 minutes on Election Day. On Tuesday, however, it took two hours, even if one showed up at 10 a.m., supposedly an off-peak period.

Even the rain did not shorten the line as ex-felons, among others, stood patiently in line. More than any time in the past, there were an abundance of teenagers, many of them voting for the first time.

Wanda Boyd, waiting to vote at the Dunbar Day Care Center on North Eden Street in Baltimore, relished the importance of Tuesday’s election. She said, “History is being made not because he's Black; it's for change, and we need change.

At Largo Senior High, Wyatt Green sat in a fold-out chair, reading a newspaper as his 10-year-old granddaughter, Relle Green, held an umbrella over his head.
At Resurrection of Our Lord Catholic Church in Laurel, Md., the line was also long coming out of church, wrapping around a large church sign and ending on the side of the building. Couples brought their infants in buggies and others brought kids who appeared to be no older than 7 or 8 years old. Many adults took photographs to document the occasion.

To Marcus Nole, 66, Tuesday was indeed a special occasion.  “It's a historical event because that means in my lifetime I've seen a Black man at least be a candidate for president,” he said outside the poll at Dr. Bernard Harris Sr. Elementary School on North Caroline Street in Baltimore. “I've seen segregation; I've seen the end of segregation. To think about the struggle just for us to be treated as human beings tells us, tells our children that you can be whatever you want to be.”