Voting in north Baltimore mirrors predictions of heavy turnout

The high turnout was good for Girl Scout troops, who were conducting brisk sales at Shrine of the Sacred Heart and St. David's Episcopal Church in Roland Park, and for Roland Park Elementary/Middle School's PTA

Troop 5702 held a bake sale outside St. David's, featuring cookies, chocolate and peanut butter pretzel balls, scones "and one last brownie," said Zoe Prue, 7, a Roland Park Elementary student.

"We don't care how (people) vote. They just have to buy cookies," said Eric Johnson, 44, of Roland Park, a research scientist on the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University, who was at the church with his daughter, Grace, 7.

Johnson said he had no idea how much money the troop was making, because, "People keep giving us more than we ask for."

Election Day campaigning was in full force around the area, especially in the battle over Question 6, the marriage equality referendum. Question 6 supporters and opponents fought the battle of sign- waving at Grace United Methodist Church in Homeland. And at St. David's, Mary Ann Mears, of Poplar Hill, and her daughter, Baltimore deputy state's attorney Elizabeth Embry, of Waverly, showed their support for Question 6.

At Medfield Heights, Marty Taylor, a member of St. Thomas Aquinas Church's Respect Life Committee, handed out literature opposing Question 6. Taylor said she had never seen such long lines, including in Hampden, where she votes at the Academy for College and Career Exploration, a city public school. She said she tried to vote early in the morning, but there was a 20-minute wait, so she decided to come back later.

Across the street from Grace United Methodist, a semi-retired clinical social worker, who would not give his name for fear of retaliation, stood at the busy intersection, holding an odd sign that said, "Republicans: It's not too late. Write in for Sarah Palin."

The staunch Democrat said his sign was intended to argue that Romney was a bad candidate who is only pretending to care for the middle class and that Republican voters would be better off "wasting their vote" for Palin, the former Alaska governor.

"I'm getting a lot of smiles and laughs from Democrats," said the Rodgers Forge resident, 62. "I'm just lucky enough to have the time to do this — and I'm angry enough to do it."

One of the lesser-known ballot initiatives, Question 5, took on greater importance at First English Lutheran Church in Guilford, where people voting in precinct 1 went to one side of the voting room, while precinct 2 voters went to the other side.

Question 5 asks voters if they want to uphold congressional redistricting in Maryland. Election judges at First English said redistricting in 2010 has had a profound effect on the two voting precincts at the church. Both precincts used to be comparable, at least in the number of voting machines. But now, precinct 2, which had 1,452 voters before redistricting, has just 258 voters and two voting machines, compared with 12 machines for precinct 1.

"It's pitiful," said Margaret Mason, the chief Democratic judge for precinct 2. "I was over there helping (in precinct 1), because I'm so bored."

The voting line stretched out the door at Roland Park Elementary/Middle, where chief Democratic judge Melina Turtle, of Lake Evesham, taped a small "I voted" ticket to the blouse of voter Annette Arthur, 90.

For Arthur, casting her vote was a fact of life.

"I've been doing it quite a long time," she said.