RICHLAND COUNTY ELECTION MESS

A voter's voice: Matt Pennington

Published: November 25, 2012 

Richland County voters endured horrifically long lines to vote Nov. 6, mostly, it appears, because there were not enough machines at polling places. Many left the polls without voting.

The county’s legislative delegation is holding a hearing Monday to determine what went wrong. The public may attend but will not be allowed to speak.

Here’s the voice of a frustrated voter on that very long day:

Matt Pennington compared the voting process to being on the television show “Survivor” – and he was losing.

Pennington voted in Columbia’s Ward 3 at Reformation Lutheran Church. He said he arrived at 8:30 a.m. and somehow ended up voting after others who arrived at 10 a.m.

At one point during the more than three-hour process, the voters were split into two lines, then “there were two tribes and people were making an alliance, and we were getting a little rowdy in the other line.”

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