Below The Beltway

If the early morning is any indication, it’s looking like turnout will be very heavy in Virginia and Maryland today:

Lines formed hours early at polling places around the region this morning, as voters braced for unprecedented turnout and went out of their way to make sure they could cast their ballots.

Frank Douglas, a 67-year-old Woodbridge resident, was first in line at the Potomac Library in Prince William County, ground zero in the battleground state of Virginia. Douglas, one of many African Americans in the crowd, arrived at 3:30 a.m., taking no chances of running out of time before he was due at his job at the Prince William County Department of Parks and Recreation.

Behind him stood Cybil Archibold, 21 years old, white and voting for the first time in her life. She said she came straight from last night’s Obama rally at the Prince William County Fairground, stopping home only to grab a sweater.

“I believe in my presidential candidate a lot,” said Archibold, who works two jobs — as a cashier at one restaurant and a waitress in another. “I believe in his political ideas. He doesn’t seem like a robot, like some politicians. He seems like a real human being.”

By 5:30 a.m., 100 people stood outside the library. By 6 a.m., when the doors opened, 200 stood patiently, and others drove their cars in circles, finding no place to park in the normally ample lot.

The scene was similar in the Western Prince William County precinct where my wife Kellie and I went to vote this morning. We arrived at the school at 5:20 and there was already a line at least 30 people long. By 5:45, the line had at least tripled in size and people were looking for a place to park. By the time we walked out of the polling place at 6:15, the line was longer than it had been 30 minutes early and the cars were still coming.

Based on my own experience and other reports I’ve seen this morning, I’m guessing that we’re looking at record turnout in Northern Virginia, which should be good news for Barack Obama and Mark Warner.

Update: Leslie Carbone shares her own story of what is looking to be historically high turnout in Northern Virginia:

The elementary school parking lot was full at a little after 9:00 this morning when I went to vote, and the side streets were packed as well, so I parked about a block away. The cool air and smell of turning leaves made for a pleasant short walk to the polling place.

As I approached the polling entrance, a polite woman sporting an Obama-Biden pin offerred me a “sample ballot”, which I accepted, although it was really a Democrat Party voting guide. If the Republican Party had a presence there, I missed it, and they didn’t seek me out.

The line was longer than I’d ever seen it, but really not very long at all; I waited less than 10 minutes. Apparently, I missed the big rush early this morning.

A poll worker told me that nearly half those registered in my precinct had already voted.

50% turnout after only three hours……