Casey McGee made it a priority to get out and vote Tuesday morning. He cast his ballot at his polling site at the Idaho Department of Trasportation at 9:30 a.m. On Tuesday night, McGee was keen on following election results, but he doesn’t have a TV or an Internet connection at home.
So the 29-year-old, who works at a youth crisis shelter, brought his laptop to Boise Public Library’s Collister branch to plug in. He also found his way to a library conference room where a big-screen TV.
The branch library was bustling Tuesday night, with numerous kids on computers, adults reading at tables, and a group meeting in one of the conference rooms. “It’s our busiest day, except for Sundays,” said Odessa Leedy, a library branch specialist. She wore her “I voted” sticker on the credential around her neck.
Emily Bergstrom, a counselor at Collister Elementary School, briefly listened to election coverage on the TV while her daughter, Juniper, 2, played games. Bergstrom said they don’t have a TV at home — she and her husband, Joe, sold it in January.
Bergstrom voted before work Tuesday. She admitted to feeling nervous about the outcome, but didn’t want to talk about her own politics.
“It’s a very big deal for lots of reasons — locally and nationally,” she said. But her family would be turning in early, not staying up to find out winners and losers. The fifth- and sixth-graders at Collister had a mock election Tuesday. Obama won, Bergstrom said.
McGee said he felt disillusioned with the political atmosphere in the country.
“I feel the country is shifting away from taking care of its citizens to taking care of organizations that might not need help,” McGee said.
He said he was “apprehensive” about the presidential election because it appeared to be a tossup, but didn’t want to say who he was pulling for. However, he did say he was strongly opposed to the three educational propositions.
Boise cab driver Lorrie Stephens, who sported an “I voted” sticker Tuesday night, stopped into the library on her break to pick up some books.
Stephens, 33, voted at 4:30 p.m. at a polling site at a church on Ustick. She was working the late shift Tuesday and wasn’t too concerned about results early in the evening.
Katy Moeller: 377-6413
