Funny stuff going on in Naples, Fl....

[kerry-is-my-prez]

My BF went to early vote at the location on airport and said the poll watchers were "treating the Dems like crap." He is registered as an Indy so they were apparently saying negative things about Dems and were also matching people's signatures - like they were going to not allow people (probably the Dems) not to vote if their signature didn't match. I am going to call Dem headquarters to let them know this. Anyone else I can talk to? This area is rotten with Republicans and so is the state.

[Throck]

1. We live in a world where everyone needs a body cam to document this.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

2. and they would never allow it. You'd have to have a hidden camera and then would probably

get in trouble for that.....

[lpbk2713]

28. True.

Most voting places don't allow cameras of any sort inside.

[Baitball Blogger]

3. Call the supervisor of elections for that county.

Report them.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

4. She's a right wing POS.....

but would be interesting to see if she would do anything about it.

[Baitball Blogger]

5. Is there anyone with any clout who can make that call?

[elmac]

17. i called our states Bureau of Elections during the '12 election

after my mom informed me that the local city clerk refused to send an absentee ballet which she qualified for. She was in her 80's plus wheelchair bound with one leg. It took about 10mins before she got a call back from the clerk, apologizing and personally delivering a ballot to her. So, yes, report anything unusual.

[DonaldsRump]

6. Please tell people to call Election Protection at 866-OUR VOTE

This is a non-partisan group of lawyers across the US answering calls and on the ground in precincts throughout the US for people having problems or questions about voting.

They will be on call all throughout November 6 in all time zones covering the US.

[2naSalit]

7. Could you post this as a thread?

It's really important info.

[DonaldsRump]

8. Good idea. Done! Thank you. N/t

[samnsara]

26. yep this is the number to call

[Hoyt]

9. There should be Democrats, as poll watchers, on-site.

If not, Democrats there have dropped the ball.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

12. Yes, there should always be poll watchers (i.e., babysitters)

Just to make sure that no one is harassed, pressured or harmed.

How sad that it has come to that. There was a time when this kind of thing just did not happen.

[hay rick]

10. FDP's voter protection number in Florida:

1-833-358-6776 (1-833-FLVPRO).

[BadgerMom]

11. Unfortunately

“rotten” and “Republican” are inseparable.

[byronius]

13. Democrats would never do such a thing, but Republicans cannot refrain.

The irony gets so thick and the reasoning so circular -- the Patriotic Flag Flag Patriot America Flag Party is okay with a hundred different ways to cheat, because they're the good guys so they have to cheat.

Because otherwise we'd have socialism. Socialist Dystopia, man. Everyone gets free health care and guaranteed basic income, well-regulated capitalism with a progressive tax structure, free college, publicly financed elections-- the Horror. The Horror. None will survive.

Representative democracy at this moment would just change everything. What a utopian concept. We should try that.

Imagine the blue wave on a level playing field across the board. The GOP would be virtually wiped out.

So they have to cheat to survive. The gambit requires that they subvert democracy every day.

I have a Dream.

[Rebl2]

14. I don't live

in FL, live in red Missouri. I have rheumatoid arthritis and there are days my hand writing is not great and may not look exactly like what is on my drivers license. Find it to be totally unfair. Don’t think it should be used for anyone for that matter. Since when are poll workers experts on comparing signatures.

[No Vested Interest]

15. Good point. My daughter's right hand is not usable due to stroke, so she's now writing

with her left hand. More accurately, she prints her name, rather than cursive.
Obviously, there's a difference between pre-stroke and post-stroke signatures.
She hasn't been called/stopped because of this change, but I'm always conscious of the possibility.

[appleannie1943]

16. I have worked polls in PA. I don't know about Florida but in PA

there has to be an equal amount of Dems and Thugs working as poll workers.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

18. I'm going to do it in the next election so they'd better watch out! I think the Dems are such a

minority that they are intimidated around here at times. Me - not so much. I'm a loud and proud Democrat & a liberal.

[jmbar2]

19. Keep us posted what happens when you call

Thanks for posting about it.

[HockeyMom]

33. I don't trust that line party vote in PA

Voted first time last year in PA. Line party automatic vote? Don't trust that. Too easy to switch to other Party. I will only vote each individual candidate.

[Zorro]

20. Poll watchers can't fuck with voters

That's an absolute rule. Go there and confirm they're harassing voters, then call the Registrar of Voters office and report it.

They also can't interfere with the poll workers. That's a real no-no.

[Honeycombe8]

21. Poll workers are supposed to be both parties, I thought.

At least a friend of mine who was a poll worker in Dallas told me it was that way there.

[radical noodle]

22. I live in a very red area of Florida and had no problem

but anything is possible, I guess. They didn't really look at our signatures where I voted.

[Blue_true]

23. The problem is the electronic screen that you sign.

The angle of your hand change from place to place. At the DMV, righthanded people are favored as the setup is on the right of the clerk's desk and a person signs downward and relatively straighton.

At the early voting location that I went to, the the station that I walked up to had the screen on the left and positioned at around 30-35 degrees. That immediately changed my signature because I had to turn left as a righthander, and I had to sign a screen that was around 20 degrees more steep than the one that I signed for my drivers license. The guy at the station looked back and forth for a while, I thought he was going to say "your signature does not match", but after a while he said my ballot would take a minute to print out. I got the ballot and voted. The signature match thing has a lot of problems, instead of relying on it to make a final determination, poll watchers should instead ask for another ID from the person, anything, a bank card, SS card, library card with their name on it.

[radical noodle]

24. They really didn't even look at mine

I'm an elderly white woman, maybe that's why they didn't pay any attention to it?

You're right about those electronic signature things. My signature never looks like my normal one on those things.

[Blue_true]

25. When people sign documents traditionally.

The pen tip is almost straight down, at maybe a 5-10 degree angle to vertical. The signature changes as the contact angle of the pen tip changes, that is the primary reason why electronic screen signatures look different.

[Pacifist Patriot]

32. That was my experience yesterday.

Very red area and I didn't see anyone getting grief at all. Busy early voting location that ran incredibly smoothly although many of us in line were not shy about our mutual party affiliation. Poll workers couldn't have cared less and did not give signatures heavy scrutiny.

[FM123]

27. Terrible what he just had to go through!

Trumpy was just there on the West Coast (I think Ft. Myers area) getting all his minions riled up - these are obviously not neutral poll watchers but trumplicans placed there, we have got to get some Dems down there stat!

[kerry-is-my-prez]

34. Yep - just North of where I live. Embarrassing that we have so many dumbasses in my area.

[Laffy Kat]

29. Where are all of the poll watchers? nt

[HockeyMom]

30. Unfortunately, nothing new in Naples

I first voted in Naples in 2007 at the Library on Orange Tree. After showing my Driver's License, the Poll Worker yelled out, "Lookie here!" "We got ourselves are Democrat". "Go vote on that special Democrat Voting Machine." Laughter among other Poll Workers.

I was so shocked I couldn't speak. Swore never again. I voted Absentee Ballot after that. In fact for Presidential Elections in 2008, 2012, and 2016 I drove to the County Board of Elections and handed my ballot to the Clerk and watched her put it in the big bin marked Absentee Ballots. I made sure that I very slowly signed my name on the ballots.

Yes, I should have complained. Maybe (?) if people do complain something will be done? I am 70 and have voted many decades and now in three different states. Never trusted voting in Naples, Florida. I moved out of State almost 2 years ago.

[Awsi Dooger]

31. I would have gotten all their names, complained to superiors, and taken it to the media

That is outrageous. But people like that become scared in a hurry when their names are at issue and they are scrutinized from above, especially in the media.

I guarantee a local newspaper and television station would have taken interest in a story like that.

I am in Naples every November for an LPGA golf tournament. I'll be there in two weeks for all four rounds. No kidding it is a wing nut area. Older demographic and heavily Republican. Based on attending golf tournaments and listening to comments from spectators I never kidded myself that Trump didn't have a chance in 2016. Frankly I think Hillary's camp should have walked the ropes at PGA events early in 2016 and sampled opinion from those spectators. They would never have taken those upper midwestern states for granted if they understood what white people were thinking.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

35. A large number of absentee ballots get "lost," especially the Dem ones. 75,000 didn't get counted.

I have to admit though, I am pretty outspoken and would be causing all kinds of trouble if that happened at the polls. I'm not seventy though and I'm pretty imposing: a tall and athletic female so I don't get messed with a lot....

[babylonsister]

36. That's a huge no-no for poll workers.

I am one in FL, but I assume this applies everywhere. We're not even supposed to mention our affiliation, nevermind criticizing anyone else's. I think this should reported, might be able to nip it in the bud prior to Tuesday.

That just sucks.

[Cha]

37. KICK!!

[Cha]

38. If you are turned away at the polls your response is:

Link to tweet

[FM123]

39. Yes!

Pass it on, two days to go....

[Cha]

40. Thank You, FM.. here's the original OP..

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=11361291