You may have read in the Washington Post this morning that today is the first day that District residents may cast “in-person absentee” ballots, up until Nov. 3. All you have to do is show up at the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics headquarters at 441 4th St. NW, Suite 250N, to request an absentee ballot and vote right then and there. Sounds great, right? Especially if you think you might be out of town or say, busy covering the election on Nov. 4.

Well, from what we’re hearing, not necessarily if you went in to vote today. Reason magazine reporter Dave Weigel (who, full disclosure, is also my new roommate) went down to the elections board at lunchtime today only to discover about 70 people waiting in line before him. He tells DCist the entire line-waiting and voting process for early voting took him an hour and a half, though once he got through the long line, the act of voting was virtually painless and problem free.

Granted, today is the first day early voting was offered in the District, and lunchtime is surely the busiest possible time to go. But 90 minutes is far too long. If you end up going in to vote early on a different day and/or time, be sure to let us know if you have an easier time of it.

Voters in Virginia may also cast in-person absentee ballots, but only up until Nov. 1.