A long line signals hope in a Ukraine neighborhood

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The line for the voting booths, a half-dozen flimsy plywood enclosures draped with blue curtains, stretched down the main hallway of Educational Institution No. 323. It went past the election officers sitting beneath paintings of talking rabbits and blond princesses. It turned the corner into the lobby, with the photographs celebrating school plays and Christmas parties, and then out the door and onto the courtyard steps.

By noon, there were 150 or so people in line. The wait was about an hour.