On 11 October 2005, Liberia held its first presidential and legislative elections after the end of civil war. People began queuing at polling places as early as 2 a.m. and waited for hours in sun and rain. The UN refugee agency recorded returned refugees among those in line, including a woman who had been waiting at a Monrovia polling office since five in the morning.
The lines reflected more than enthusiasm. Roads damaged by war, polling sites without electricity and complicated ballots all slowed the process. Some precincts could not be reached by road, and the United Nations Mission in Liberia used helicopters and other transport to deliver election materials. Nationwide turnout reached roughly 75 percent.
Those waiting sought more than a ballot paper. After fourteen years of intermittent war, the election offered a way to express political choice through a nonviolent procedure. Bringing chairs and umbrellas and holding one's place became part of rebuilding a damaged institution through ordinary actions.