Long lines to vote in Plainview

Voters waited in a long line Tuesday afternoon at a makeshift polling place at the Mid-Island Y Jewish Community Center in Plainview that snaked through several rooms and out the door.

The word “vote” with arrows was drawn on dry erase boards pointing the way.

Many said they didn’t mind the wait, which was about 20 minutes Tuesday afternoon, and joked to each other that precious fuel could also be found at the end of the line.

“This is the time of lines,” said Iva Kravitz, 65, of Plainview.

Kravitz said she cast a ballot to re-elect President Barack Obama.

“Better to have a devil you know than a devil you don’t know,” she said.

Poll workers said at least one of the optical scanners at the site was down and Board of Election workers would be by that night to pick up that district’s ballots.

SEE PHOTOSSandy's impact on Long Island

Harvey Staub, 57, of Plainview, who owns a drugstore, said he voted for Mitt Romney and for John McCain in 2008 despite being a “lifelong Democrat.”

“The economy is the most important issue, the debt,” he said, adding of Obama, “I knew he wasn’t going to do the job.”

Staub commended neighbors who had come out to vote after Sandy.

“We didn’t do it despite the storm, we did it in spite of the storm to show what we stand for,” he said.

Allen B. Zilbert said he and his family still did not have electricity at their Plainview home.

“Hopefully, by some miracle it’ll be on tonight,” said Zilbert, 55, a chief information officer for an online university.

He said his family has gotten through the cold night with “lots of layers.”

Zilbert said he voted for Obama as he did in the last presidential election.

“He took over a situation that was really difficult,” he said. “I don’t expect a person to clean that up after four years.”

There were already signs of economic improvement during Obama’s term, such as the stock market being up, Zilbert said.