Real voting question is how many didn't wait?

In a recent editorial ("Something wrong when so few vote in Yuma County") a question was asked about the poor voter turnout in Yuma County.

My personal opinion, based on visiting various polling stations, is that the Yuma County Recorder’s Office (responsible for the voting process) was not ready for the amount of problems that were experienced. I witnessed literally hundreds of people standing in line from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at three separate polling locations. I know of friends who did not vote because of the excessively long wait times – they came to vote, they waited and they went home or back to work.

Also, the decision to reduce the number of polling stations was an absolute mistake. The decision should have been to keep the existing number of polling stations or even add additional stations. Yuma is not getting any smaller.

When I voted in the 2008 General Election it took me four and a half hours to cast my ballot (Oasis Church, 16th St. and Avenue C). There was only one person who handled the voters list and the poor lady had a difficult time finding and reading out the names to the other poll workers. That slowed down the entire process.

Less than one third of the voting machines were being utilized. When I finally finished voting I called the election office and described the delay that was taking place and within an hour they added an additional person to check names and eligibility thus speeding up the process.

That is when my wife and I decided on utilizing absentee ballots.

I think the correct question asked in the editorial should have been "How many people in Yuma County did not vote because of the excessive wait times at the polling stations?" I believe that number would astonish people.

Bill Baumbeck

Yuma