Alert from someone in line who observed Stephen Postema inside on Election Day as I was standing outside Slauson Middle School.

City attorney Stephen Postema visited around 25 different polling places on Election Day in his capacity as election commissioner. First off, I’d like to thank Stephen for allowing me to tag along with him all day as he checked in on various polling places. One point we had addressed the previous day when discussing logistics was what kind of access I’d be afforded at the various precincts: I would at all times avail myself of exactly the privileges afforded the general public. Every polling place has a public viewing area.

From those public viewing spots there’d be no talking to people waiting in line, no photography, nothing to disrupt the ritual of democracy. (I don’t think lending my pen to Dave Boutette, who asked me for it to fill out his voter application, broke the spirit of the rules.)

Postema and I had agreed to meet at Slauson Middle School to start the day. I wasn’t sure where exactly he’d meant, and figured it would not be smart to just barge into the polls asking, “Anybody seen Stephen Postema?” At 6:58 a.m., two minutes before the polls opened, I received a text message clarifying the situation: “Postema is in here conducting the masses.”

I assumed this message came from Postema himself and wrote the original caption to the cell phone photo that way. It did puzzle me somewhat that Postema would refer to himself in the third person. In the course of the day he would not ever use anything but first-person reference. But it didn’t puzzle me enough to ask him about it. Or to verify that it was Postema’s number that I Photoshopped a black bar over.

It turns out that the message was not sent by Postema but in all likelihood by Stopped. Watched. correspondent, John Weise, who I saw standing in line when I went inside. Reached by phone, Postema confessed that he does not even know how to text-message, and added, “I do not want to learn how to text-message!”

It would take over a half hour of conducting before Postema was satisfied that the lines at Slauson had been optimized for maximum efficiency. Precinct maps needed to be hung to help voters get in the line for the correct precinct: either 5-4 or 5-5. Student volunteers needed to be emboldened to give clear directions. It was a familiar theme through the day, especially in the early morning. Details are in the same-day report, which I filed incrementally through the day by phoning in reports to my colleague, Mary Morgan, who was holding down the fort at The Chronicle’s home office.

Generally, though, I was struck by the fact that Postema didn’t just put in face time at the polling locations – he tweaked procedures and processes to help alleviate the long waits. In some cases it was a matter of moving furniture around. In others it was a case of adjusting the divisions in the alphabet corresponding to different lines.

Probably the most interesting episode I witnessed was at Pioneer High School, when Jonas Mouton, who by the way plays football for the University of Michigan, was initially turned away from the polls. Mouton made some phone calls to numbers provided by the Democratic Party voter assistance table. When Postema learned of the situation, he made some phone calls of his own. Through the various phone calls, it was determined that Mouton was in the qualified voter file and was therefore entitled to vote. I knew that one of the people Postema called was Mary Fales, a staff attorney who was holding down the fort on the third floor of the Larcom building.

After Mouton emerged from the polls having successfully voted, he called back one of the numbers and reported that his second attempt went successfully and thanked the person on the other end of the line. A bit of post-election digging turned up the name of the of that person, who had found Mouton’s name in the file: Joan Lowenstein, whose term as city council representative for Ward 2 ends this week. (Lowenstein did not seek re-election to council.)

When there weren’t any adjustments required at a particular precinct, Postema would typically focus on thanking the poll workers for the job they were doing. Many of them were high school students. “Where do you go?” he’d ask. Several attend Pioneer and many of those knew Postema’s kids Jake and Tess.

Jake and Tess were Postema’s drivers for the day. Jake took the morning shift, Tess the afternoon. That allowed Postema to keep his hands free to talk on the phone and check in at city hall or with different precincts through the day. The Postema kids seem to know Ann Arbor pretty well, but where they needed directions, Postema would sometimes interleave driving instructions with polling station instructions, “I think Kristen [Larcom] should stay there [at Clague Middle School] – turn there, no, next one – because we need an extra person there, there’s just no letup there.” Or other times he’d just point where the driver needed to go from his spot in the front passenger’s seat. (I did not call shotgun, because I figured Postema did not know me well enough to know that I would have been kidding.)

It would have been interesting to know, just out of idle curiosity, how many miles we covered through the day, but we neglected to check the odometer at the start.

Here are some photos from along the way:

Election Day 2008: Slauson Middle School at 6:30 a.m. Polls opened at 7 a.m.

Election Day 2008: Bach Elementary. Christiaan and Deb Vandenbroek with Democratic Party voter assistance. Sarah Bennett was with a nonpartisan poll-watching group, Election Protection.

Election Day 2008: Until around noon, the 100-foot mark at Bach Elementary School (past this point no campaigning allowed) was indicated by a 100-foot piece of string. Later, city workers arrived and painted a line.

Election Day 2008: The 100-foot line at Eberwhite Elementary School as painted by city workers.

Election Day 2008: We were able to park anywhere we needed to using the special one-day pass, which was placed on the dashboard.

Election Day 2008: Postema drew the line at parking in a handicapped spot. We found street parking at a meter.

Election Day 2008: The cube sculpture near the Michigan Union polling location.

Election Day 2008: We chanced across Mike Anglin, city council representative for Ward 5, who was pedaling along in front of Liberty Lofts and circled back around when we yelled at him to come chat.

Election Day 2008: I met Laura earlier in the morning at Slauson Middle School, which is where she votes. She was working for the Democrats' voter assistance station up at Thurston Elementary.

The barely visible vine-covered building in the background is the Mary Street polling location. Residences within the 100-foot line were fair game for an Obama canvasser, but he was not allowed to interact with anyone he met on the way to the front door of the houses he was canvassing.

Election Day 2008: Stephen Postema and daughter Tess.

Unofficial results from the Washtenaw County website indicate a victory for Easthope. Easthope, 21,099; Gutenberg 18,825; Write-in, 480. Miss Saigon was not officially registered as a write-in candidate, so any votes cast for her will not be tallied.

At various polling places around the city of Ann Arbor, the colorful campaign signs for candidates stuck into the ground provided a nice complement to the spectacular fall foliage still stuck to the trees. But it wasn’t signs that impressed The Chronicle most – it was the live human beings offering literature in the 15th District Court judicial race. Many of them were family.

We met Eric Gutenberg’s parents, Erwin and Barbara, at Bach Elementary. At Thurston Elementary we met Christopher Easthope’s mother, Mary. And at Tappan Middle School we chatted with his sister, Tracey Easthope, and his nephew, Luke Desprez. And we met plenty of other Gutenberg or Easthope supporters at other polling places as well.

Gutenberg and Easthope themselves spent much of the day working outside the polls. Gutenberg spent the day at Slauson Middle School. Easthope spent at least part of the day at Slauson and certainly finished up there. n A few minutes before 8 p.m. when voting ended, the two candidates exchanged handshakes and congratulations on a good campaign. Easthope then headed over to Haisley Elementary to watch the polls close there – a tradition he maintains for every election. And it seems to have paid off again this time.

Editorial aside: The Chronicle congratulates Eric and Chris on a positive campaign that did our community proud. We’re looking forward to the service Chris will provide as judge and the continued service that Eric will provide in the county prosecutor’s office.

Here’s a set of Easthope-Gutenberg themed photos from the day.

Eric Gutenberg just after polls opened at Slauson Middle School.

Liz Lawrence and Barbara Debrodt got along fine all day as they handed out literature for Easthope and Gutenberg, respectively.

Chris Easthope, having just voted at Eberwhite Elementary, chats with city attorney Stephen Postema.

Ingrid Sheldon, former mayor of Ann Arbor, at St. Paul's Lutheran School handing out literature for Eric Gutenberg.

Finishing the night at Slauson Middle School: Marilyn Eisenbraun, Eric Gutenberg, Chris Easthope, Conan Smith, Rebekah Warren. Smith was unchallenged in his reelection bid for county commissioner, and Warren was reelected as 53rd District state representative.

Early morning celebration of Obama's victory at Main and Liberty in downtown Ann Arbor.

After checking in with county clerk Larry Kestenbaum at the county building at Main and Ann Street (he was hosting an election night non-partisan gathering), The Chronicle walked back down Main Street, took a left at Washington Street and looped around past Arbor Brewing Company. Overheard from the small pods of young folks gathered on the sidewalk were complaints about the lack of liveliness among the crowd inside ABC: “They f&^*ing suck.” We rounded the corner at Fourth Street and headed for Liberty Street.

As we arrived at Liberty, the distant din of celebration from the direction of campus grew louder and louder, and it eventually became apparent that an impromptu march of celebration was headed from the campus area down Liberty. It would eventually turn north at Main, west again at Washington and gradually fizzle out as it neared the campus area again.

Returning to downtown after a brief visit to campus, The Chronicle noted that well after 1 a.m. drivers of cars approaching the blinking red lights at the intersection of Main and Liberty would holler out the window to no one in particular: “O-BAM-A!!” Here’s some photos of the early morning revelry.

Dancing in the streets at Main and Liberty in downtown Ann Arbor, celebrating the newly elected president.

Election 2008 street celebration headed east on Liberty Street.

The crowd of mostly students were chanting, laughing and hooting as they walked down Liberty Street.

UM student revelers pour out of campus into downtown Ann Arbor.

"Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me now?" Um, yeah, dude, we can hear you.

"Why is my reflection playing an accordion instead of banging on a drum?"

From the loudspeaker: "Get out of the road and move onto the sidewalk!!"

9:30 p.m. Still at Slauson, where results from Ward 5, Precinct 4 have now come in. The 15^th District Court judicial race remains tight: Easthope 623, Gutenberg 648. For city council, Hohnke drew 1,259 votes to Floyd’s 248. And with that, The Chronicle is ending our day in the field.

8:45 p.m. At Slauson, polls workers have finished their tallies in Ward 5, Precinct 5. In the nonpartisan 15^th District Court judicial race, Chris Easthope received 500 votes; Eric Gutenberg got 482 votes in that precinct. In the race for Fifth Ward city council, 964 votes were cast for Democrat Carsten Hohnke, compared with 249 for Republican John Floyd.

8 p.m. An election worker announces: “The polls are officially closed.” Unofficial voter tallies are 1,500+ in Ward 5, Precinct 4 and 1,200+ in Ward 5, Precinct 5. Easthope left about 10 minutes ago to head to the poll closing at Haisley, a tradition that he follows every election. It’s been a long day – the first voter in line at Slauson was here at 4:45 a.m.

7:30 p.m. We’re back where we started the day, at Slauson. We’ll stay here to watch the polls close at 8 p.m. and the election workers shut down the operation. Outside there’s quite a gathering of local pols: Easthope and Gutenberg, joined by Rebekah Warren, the incumbent Democrat state representative for the 53^rd District, and her husband Conan Smith, a county commissioner. Barnett Jones, the city’s police chief, is here, too.

7:07 p.m. Not much happening at Haisley. Some canvassers – including Judge Libby Hines, who was passing out literature for Eric Gutenberg – had been told they couldn’t call out to people who were within 100 feet of the polling place. Turns out, they could. Postema set things straight.

6:56 p.m. Very slow at Abbott. Karen Sidney and Robert Pasick are working the Democratic Party table here. We don’t stay long before moving on to Haisley Elementary on the city’s northwest side.

6:55 p.m. The woman who walked to Cobblestone Farm emails The Chronicle to report that she made it to the correct polling place, walking there with a friend. “It was a long walk,” she writes, “but well worth it to exercise my vote!”

6:30 p.m. At Lakewood Elementary, south of Jackson Road on the city’s west side, there’s just a smattering of voters. Poll workers report they’ve had 800 people vote so far.

It’s dark when we leave the school. As we drive through the Lakewood neighborhood on our way to Abbott Elementary, we pass by some people hoisting a big slab of sidewalk, doing repairs under flood worklights.

6:18 p.m. Very quiet at the downtown Ann Arbor library. Next stop: Lakewood Elementary.

6:06 p.m. Just a couple of people are voting at Angell Elementary. Susan Baskett, a school board member, is working the polls here. Postema thanks her for closing the schools today – teachers had an in-service day, but students were off.

5:50 p.m. Just over two hours until the polls close. We broke for dinner, and are back on the road to Angell Elementary School on South University. Postema had suggested going to Big 10 Burrito, but his daughter Tess – one of the day’s chauffeurs, along with her twin brother Jake – voted for Qdoba Mexican Grill, where there was no line or polling controversy to be addressed. 

5:11 p.m. We’re now at the UM Sports Coliseum, on South Fifth near Fingerle Lumber. Two people are in line. A Head Injury Fact Sheet is posted on one wall, and the venue has music: ACDC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.”

4:50 p.m. The polling place on Mary Street is in a house, in a neighborhood where houses are close together. This poses a problem for an Obama canvasser who’s trying to work the street. How do you reach the houses that are located within 100 feet of the poll? The final ruling: Yes, you can canvas the houses, but you can’t talk to voters on the sidewalk within that range.

4:40 p.m. We find short lines at Tappan Middle School on East Stadium, and spot two volunteers handing out literature for Chris Easthope: His sister, Tracey Easthope, and his nephew, Luke Desprez.

On the way to the next polling place, Postema checks in by phone with his father, who gives him an update on the national scene. Poll workers at some small town were handing out ballots to voters lined up outside in the rain, and the wet ballots were snagging on the voting machines. Postema tells his dad: “If I had been there, that would have never happened.”

4:15 p.m. We’ve arrived at Cobblestone Farm on Packard, and so has a young woman who thought it’d be fun to walk to her polling place. Unfortunately, she’s now discovered that this isn’t it – she needs to be at Scarlett Middle School. Postema called his office to confirm that she in fact must vote at Scarlett, and it’s true.

3:50 p.m. At Scarlett Middle School just south of Packard, the line is about 15 people deep. One person got on her cell phone to reschedule an appointment – she was going to be late – when a poll worker shut her down. No cell phone calls allowed.

3:32 p.m. We’re now at Temple Beth Emeth on Packard, where eight people are in line. So far today, 750 people have voted here.

Postema talks to Mary Fales, one of his staff attorneys, by phone about the situation at Clague. Unlike other polling places that have seen an afternoon lull, the Ward 1, Precinct 9 line is quite busy. Another city attorney, Kristen Larcom, is on site there and plans to stay.

3:20 p.m. Lines at South Quad on UM’s central campus are minimal, maybe 30 people deep. A guy emerges wearing a T-shirt with the same font and styling as the McCain/Palin shirt, but this one says “McSame/Failin’” – Postema says this one also shouldn’t be allowed in the polling place.

3:05 p.m. Heading back into town on Fuller, we pass a bike accident near Cedar Bend – the cyclist is on the grass and an ambulance has arrived.

3 p.m. At St. Paul’s Lutheran School north of Geddes, we see former mayor Ingrid Sheldon handing out literature for Eric Gutenberg. Bonus trivia: Postema when to elementary school here.

2:30 p.m. Arrive at Thurston Elementary just north of Plymouth Road, where Chris Easthope’s mom is handing out campaign literature for him.

A guy named Warren emerges from the building then realizes he forgot to fill out the back side of the ballot, even though he’d done research on the various proposals. He goes back in to see if he can retrieve it, but finds out that’s not possible.

We also see a poll worker named Laura again – we’d met her early this morning at Slauson, when she was dropping off her daughter to vote.

2:20 p.m. There’s almost no wait for Ward 2, Precinct 6 voters at Clague, but the line for Ward 1, Precinct 9 voters is long-ish.

Outside, Tonya and Angela from Carson’s American Bistro are giving out free cider and baked goods, including pumpkin and white chocolate cookies. Chef Janey thought it would be a good way to support voters and promote the business – the restaurant made 2,000 cookies this morning for several polling spots on the city’s north side, where Carson’s is located. The Chronicle suggests that their signature corn chowder would have been a good giveaway, too. Tonya and Angela say, “Everybody tells us that.”

As we depart, Ann Arbor police chief Barnett Jones and Brian Mackie, the county prosecutor, are overseeing remeasurement of the 100-foot zone of inactivity. It appears the Carson’s folks might have to relocate.

2 p.m. What’s in Stephen Postema’s election bag? 1) blank paper, 2) markers, 3) a list of contact information for city police, attorney and clerk offices, 4) a book of notices to voters specifying what forms of ID are acceptable, and 5) an election inspectors manual.

1:45 p.m. At Northside, 588 people have voted so far today. This morning there were waits of over an hour, but things have slowed considerably.

1:30 p.m. We drop by city hall. A sign on the second-floor clerk’s office window provides this tally: Number of absentee ballots distributed – 15,070; number of absentee ballots returned before election day – 13,625; number of absentee ballots delivered for processing – 13,611.

We run into Jayne Miller, who is acting city administrator while Roger Fraser is out of town today. This is standard procedure.

We’re off to Northside Elementary and Clague Middle School, where we’ve heard reports of long lines.

1:10 p.m. Arrive at Forsythe Middle School on Newport Road – hardly any voters here.

12:45 p.m. Back on the Postema poll-hopping trail, now at Eberwhite Elementary on Soule Boulevard. Volunteers are passing out campaign literature for Eric Gutenberg and Chris Easthope, who are both running for 15^th District Court judge. We spot Easthope, who’s there to vote.

12:30 p.m. Eric Gutenberg’s parents are tag-teaming it outside of Bach. While his mother hands out campaign literature, his father takes a lunch break at Jefferson Market.

12:23 p.m. City workers are just now painting the 100-foot mark and putting out a yellow sign to indicate the no-campaigning zone at Bach. Previously the spot was marked with a length of string.

11:35 a.m. Back at Bach Elementary, this time to actually vote. While standing in line, someone emerges from the polling area and says, “Is there a doctor or nurse in the line?” A voter had passed out – 911 was called and Huron Valley Ambulance arrived minutes later.

11:25 a.m. Driving past Liberty Lofts on First Street, saw Fifth Ward city council member Mike Anglin, who was riding his bike.

11:11 a.m. At the Michigan Union, Postema asks an election inspector if he’s from the UM Law School. “No,” the guy responds, “I’m a civilian.”

Overheard in line: “Purdue – I thought we were really going to win that one.” Many students who aren’t bemoaning Michigan’s football record are reading the Michigan Daily.

In Ward 1, Precinct 1, 435 people had voted in the poll’s first three hours. In 1-2, the tally was 336.

Coming out of the union, Postema talks to a videographer from the Michigan Daily, who’s interviewing people after they voted. He reminds the guy that the media needs to stay at least 20 feet away from the building.

Walking back to the car, we see that The Cube in Regent’s Plaza has been plastered with Obama signs. A guy walking past is wearing a McCain/Palin T-shirt. Postema asks if he’s going to vote. Yes, the guy says, and he plans to put on a sweatshirt before he does. “I don’t care how you vote,” Postema says, “just understand that you can’t wear that inside.” No campaign signs, including on buttons or clothing, can be visible in a polling place.

10:35 a.m. Arrive at Mack School on Miller Avenue. The mid-morning lull has hit, and the line is comparatively light – about 40 people. 

10:20 a.m. Still at Lawton. Someone’s killing time in line reading “Salt: A World History.”

There’s a short line from the time you get your ballot to the time a voting booth frees up – about a minute and 15 seconds.

A poster for a school election hangs on the wall: “Matilda has perseverance. You don’t need a book or a calculator when you have Matilda.”

10:10 a.m. More line management at Lawton. Voters now funneled into four lines: A-F, G-K, L-P and Q-Z.

10 a.m. We’re now at Lawton Elementary on South Seventh. When we show up, a man says, “Hi Stephen – good to know you’re here.” The wait for voters is 45 minutes to an hour.

9:45 a.m. Part of the action at Pioneer involved line management. The check-in lines had originally been divided alphabetically A-L and M-Z. Based on Postema’s experience, that’s not the practical reality of how names are distributed. He switched the lines to A-G and H-Z.

Additional chairs and tables were also added for poll workers and election inspectors, with help from Pioneer principal Michael White, who asked some teachers there (they were in school for in-service training today – students are off) to wrangle furniture. An historical factoid: Postema and White were fierce rivals as cross-country runners back in the day. Postema competed for Pioneer, while White ran for a high school in Jackson.

9:40 a.m. A happy ending for Jonas Mouton: he just emerged from the Pioneer High polling place and has cast his vote. The poll worker had made a mistake in initially turning him away. Mouton’s situation was resolved after calling in to see if he was listed in the qualified voter file. He was. 

9:20 a.m. Postema is looking into the situation for Jonas Mouton and got on the phone with Mary Fales, one of his staff attorneys: “He was turned away at the polls, and I’m not sure that that’s correct.” Mouton’s voting status is still unresolved.

A voter emerges from Pioneer carrying a lawn chair, which he said he didn’t need to use. He arrived at 8:35 a.m. and left just now. He also is donating a box of Nature Valley Sweet & Salty Nut granola bars, peanut flavor, to the Democratic Party table. He had tried to give them to others in line to vote, but nobody wanted them. He reports that the counter on the voting machine he used had a tally of 300.

9:10 a.m. Outside the Pioneer High polling place (beyond the 100-foot mark), Jonas Mouton is seeking help from the Democratic Party voter assistance staff because he’s just been turned away from voting. At the poll, election staffers had told him that he hadn’t registered to vote 30 days in advance of the election – he registered on Oct. 9 as part of a UM campus registration drive. Mouton, a Michigan linebacker, is calling some help-line numbers for clarification.

Volunteers at the Democratic Party table say that at least three people so far have left without voting because of the long lines. One was a mother with three small kids: “They just can’t take it,” she said. “They’re tired.” She said she planned to return later.

8:50 a.m. The wait at Bach Elementary is 1.5 hours. Volunteers at the Democratic Party table, where cider is being served, pointed out Eric Gutenberg’s mom, who is handing out literature. All of this activity is taking place outside the no-campaigning zone, which is marked by a long string running from the polling place door to a stake at the 100-foot mark.

Now we’re on the road to Pioneer High.

8:30 a.m. Other activity at Dicken: Postema moved the table for people filling out their applications to vote into the hallway, so it wasn’t blocking the check-in line.  

Someone Postema knew came up and asked where he parked. “I have a pass,” Postema said. “I can park wherever I want.” Just for today, though – the temporary permit is a blue sheet placed on the dashboard.

Another voter came up and asked Postema if he was the guy taking suggestions. He was. The suggestion? There should be fewer lines and more explanation of which line to be in. Maps would have helped, the man said (they were put up later). When Postema asked how long it took to vote, the man answered, “Way too long.” But part of what he meant was the time spent filling in the actual ballot. He thought the ballots were too long and there were too many candidates he didn’t know. The voter said he’d like to have Internet access in the voting booth so that he could use Google to look up information.

Postema told a Pioneer High student who’s serving as election inspector: “Talk to everybody and make everybody feel good about voting.”

8:15 a.m. We’re now at Dicken Elementary in the neighborhood west of Stadium Boulevard. An election inspector here is wearing an American flag tie. There’s a line at least 100 deep. Postema asked one of the inspectors doing line management how long it was taking voters to get through. Someone standing in line answered that it’s running around 45 minutes to an hour.

Postema got a call from someone at Bach Elementary on the Old West Side. There are also hour-long waits at Bach, which is perceived as a problem. We’re headed there next to help them “split the book” – adding another person to the staff and dividing the alphabet listing of voters from two to three sections.

8 a.m. Voter and local musician Dave Boutette borrowed The Chronicle’s pen to fill out his ballot application. Outside, Eric Gutenberg is handing out literature now, keeping well outside the 100-foot no-campaigning zone. He plans to stay there all day. Poll workers were raising the flag on the flagpole as we departed.

7:45 a.m. Still at Slauson. Announcement made over PA system: “The coffee is made. It just needs to be plugged in.”

7:30 a.m. The major challenge at Slauson is getting people into the right line for their precinct. Maps of precincts 5-4 and 5-5 have been taped to the walls. They’ve also added a third person to check IDs and hand out ballots at the 5-4 precinct table. It takes about a minute from the time people hand over their ID to the time they get a ballot. So if you want to estimate how long you’ll be standing in line, count the number of people ahead of you and divide by the number of people checking – that’s the number of minutes you’ll have to wait. 

7:10 a.m. Eric Gutenberg, candidate for 15th District Court judge, just walked into the Slauson Middle School polling place on West Washington, then walked back out. Said he figured he’d come back a little later, when the line was not as long.

Absentee voter ballot box inside the Larcom Building on the first floor. Absentee ballots can be turned in up to 8 p.m. on Nov. 4. Absentee ballots obtained today (Nov. 3) must be voted today.

Tomorrow The Chronicle plans to log a few miles visiting as many precinct polling places as we can. We’re getting a ride from Stephen Postema, city attorney and one of three election commissioners for Ann Arbor. The other two are city clerk Jacqueline Beaudry and police chief Barnett Jones.

We’ve chosen not to obtain press credentials so that we can have the same experience the general public has at any polling place on election day. In this we’re taking a page from Postema’s book. He doesn’t vote absentee, he says, because he wants to get a feeling for the voting experience that most voters have. That will mean that he’s not even able to cut in line – no special privileges are afforded Postema as city attorney or as election commissioner.

That goes for The Chronicle as well. Postema made clear to us that we won’t be given any special access tomorrow to areas reserved for election inspectors. No talking to people in line. No photography inside the the polling place. Even if Postema wanted to give us special access – and to be clear, he doesn’t want to and he’s not going to – it’s not like tagging along really close behind Postema is enough to give us the credibility we’d need to go unchallenged into guarded areas.

Following him in the clerk’s office this morning, we were met by a staffer who politely blocked us off and said simply, “Sir, you can’t come in here.” Postema gave the necessary assurances and we had a quick chat with Jacqueline Beaudry, who said that people standing in the line winding around the hallway were taking 30 minutes to an hour (as of 11:30 a.m.) to make their way to the window for in-person absentee voting registration, which ends at 4 p.m. – two or three hours from now depending on when this piece get edited. Beaudry stressed that ballots obtained today must also be voted today.

Postema seemed to know everyone standing in the line on the second floor of the Larcom Building. But he said that he knew only half of them. Among them was the new legal counsel for the University of Michigan, Suellyn Scarnecchia – they went to high school together.

On Election Day, Postema’s staffs’ assignments include Mary Fales on the second floor of the Larcom Building at the city clerk’s election central, plus Abigail Elias holding down the fort at the city attorney’s office on the third floor. Other attorneys will be distributed throughout the city.

But Postema himself – along with The Chronicle – will be visiting as many of the 40-some polling places as time allows. And he’ll be able to talk on either of his two phones hands-free, thanks to driving services provided by the 16-year-old Postema twins, Jake and Tess. They’re not taking the day off school – there is no school tomorrow. Ann Arbor Public Schools called off school in anticipation of huge election turnouts. That will mean more space available for moving voters through the voting process with less waiting.

We’ll try to file updates throughout the day tomorrow as we visit the precincts. Have a good vote.