Elections 2011

After walking around the Pitt campus for about a half an hour, I finally found the polling place. The second I walked up, they told me I was not allowed to have a camera. I told them I was. This dialogue continued until security was mentioned, then I eventually gave up since no voters were present.

I then went to Epiphany Church in Washington Place. They also told me I was not allowed to have a camera but much nicer about it. The woman who asked me to talk to voters outside instead of inside the actual polling place was the Judge of Elections. She said "We used to let kids in with cameras all the time, but of course one person had to mess that up". She has been working the polls at Epiphany Church for a number of years now. She enjoys it, however says it is a very long day. At 6:00, even after the polls had been open for 11 hours, she said that only about 60 people had showed up to vote at this location.

I talked to a number of people who did not want to have their photograph taken and would not give me their names, but were willing to tell me why they voted.

An older couple left the polling place together after casting their votes. They said that they vote in every single election, and neither of them had missed an election since they turned 18.

A young man, Age 20, left the polling place at Epiphany Church said "I was unprepared to vote in this election. I didn't realize how many things there were to vote on and I definitely didn't do enough research". It was the first time he had voted.

A Pittsburgh Man said "I normally don't vote in this kind of election, but I wanted to be a part because of this whole Fitzgerlad/Raja showdown".

A Pittsburgh man named Steven, Age 25, said "I haven't voted in a while, but I had to this time around. It's not really fair for me to complain about what is going on if I haven't done my part, so I wanted to do my part".

Finally after talking to 8 people, and being ignored by a number of others, someone finally allowed me to take their picture!

Hannah, a resident of Allegheny County, casts her vote on November 8, 2011 at the Epiphany Church at Washington Place. Hannah said "I don't always vote, but I really wanted to vote this time because of everything going on with the libraries. They are really important to the community".

When the polls closed at 8:00, still under 100 voters had cast their votes, a very small turnout for the number of people that live in the area.