Notes from Election Night: At the Midland

By DAVID MARTIN

Obama volunteer Jonathan Sheffi stood near the bar of the Midland theater, a hard-earned drink in hand, as victory approached Tuesday night. Earlier in the day, Sheffi had served as a polling-place captain at Immanuel Lutheran Church in midtown, where a mix-up delayed the delivery of voter rolls until 8 a.m., two hours after polls officially opened.

The wrong books arrived at three polling locations in the Fifth Ward. The mistake thwarted those who had risen early to cast their ballots. Sheffi says the longest line formed outside Immanuel Lutheran. “We had about 400 voters waiting,” he says.