Minneapolis CLUC Officers and Board

6:50 a.m.
A quick head count found 200 people waiting in line to vote at Lake Harriet school in southwest Minneapolis, Ward 13, Precinct 2. "I'm usually a 7:00 person. There's usually a long line but not this long," said Susan Thompson, a former AFSCME member in waiting line.

7:00 a.m.
Election judge, Minneapolis, Ward 13, Precinct 2: "It is 7:00. We are opening the polls."

8:30 a.m.
Volunteers from MoveOn.org staff a tent outside a polling place at the Bakken Museum, 36th and Zenith, Minneapolis. Left to right: Pat Jones, Lois Egan, Joan Stockinger. "We have infrequent voter lists. We're here to check them off and call if they don't come," said Stockinger.

8:45 a.m.
Amy Levine, left, and Linda Gensheimer, right, wave Kerry-Edwards signs at the corner of W. Lake Street and W. Calhoun Parkway in Minneapolis. "It's running about 60 percent honking, Gensheimer said.

9:00 a.m.
Mike Krumholz, UAW staff, trains volunteers for Get-Out-The-Vote doorknocking at the United Labor Centre, 312 Central Ave., Minneapolis. "It's going to be a big day out there today," he said.

9:00 a.m.
Geri Katz, America Coming Together staff, told volunteers for Get-Out-The-Vote doorknocking, "talking one on one with voters is the most effective way to get people to vote." She added: "If every one of our volunteers talks to ONE person today who woke up not planning to vote, and gets that person to vote, we're going to be wildly successful."

10:15 a.m.
Two international election observers check in at the Hennepin County Government Center inbetween precinct visits: Stavros Evagorou, from Cyprus (left), and Goran Lennmarker, from Sweden (right), are members of parliament in their home countries. They are here in the United States as part of a group of 50 observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors elections around the world. A team of five OSCE observers came to Minnesota, Evagorou said, because "we know that the battle is here. If there were about to be some problems, that would be here." The OSCE team is getting full cooperation from election officials in Hennepin County, he said, unlike Florida, where "they are not cooperating at all. They kicked us out."

11:00 a.m.
"Good morning. Hennepin County Elections office. How can I help you?" Amanda Tempel fielded phone calls from voters with good cheer and patience. As a temporary employee, she noted, she is not an AFSMCE member but she said she is a "proud" associate member of the United Steelworkers of America. She told one caller, "no, Patty Wetterling is in the Sixth Congressional District and you can't vote for her because you live in the Fifth Congressional District."

11:30 a.m.
Sharon Collins answers voter questions at Minneapolis City Hall. "Overall it's going great," said Susanne Griffin, director of the Minneapolis Office of Elections and Voter Registration. She said her normal staff of six full-time employees was getting help today from 20 city employees who were delivering ballots and other materials to polling places plus another 20 city staff who were helping out at the elections office at City Hall. Griffin said more than 10,000 absentee ballots would be delivered to polling places today.

12 noon
Three students from South High waved "Vote for Change" signs at the corner of University Ave. and Central Ave., Minneapolis. Left to right: Erica Blanchard, 17; Kevin Lackaff-Gilligan, 17; Jennifer Larson, 18. Asked why they weren't in school, Lackaff-Gilligan replied: "We're sick -- sick of where our country is headed." The three students had been doorknocking earlier in the day with the Young Voter Project. "Everyone we talked to were either headed out to vote or already had voted," Larson said.

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Minneapolis Regional Labor Federation, AFL-CIO 312 Central Ave., Suite 542, Minneapolis, MN 55414 Phone: 612-379-4206 Fax: 612-379-1307
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