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[BushRel4Kerry JH]

For the first time this year, I was an official poll worker.

We complain and complain about voter fraud. How many of us are actually doing what we can to make sure that those people working at the polls are doing everything to ensure a fair election?

This year, there was a nationwide shortage of poll workers. Did you go to your City Hall or Elections Office to find out how to be a poll worker? Could you have taken a day off work to do that? Are you unemployed and needing cash (at least in my community, poll workers are paid)?

I applied and was accepted as a poll worker this year and worked my polling station from 6am to 1:30am. It was my first time. I have nothing but high regard for the people who worked the polls with me. They were there, both Republicans and Democrats, to make sure the election was fair. We were not identified by party until there was something that legally required the presence of one person from each party, such as processing absentee ballots. The two people in charge, both of whom had been doing this for a long time, were great. They had the teams set up to make sure we were balanced.

Wisconsin has election-day registration. Because I was working at a polling place in an area that has tons of college students, we were overwhelmed with new registrations and address changes. There were times when no one was in line to vote, but line to register was out the door.

There were lawyers watching us register. One guy came in from the RNC in Washington and was a royal pain in the ass. Local Democratic lawyers ended up having a guy from the Bureau of Criminal Investigation come and talk to him. He disappeared sometime after noon. He was threatening to challenge registrations, etc. Once we figured out who the players were, we got pretty firm about telling them to back off, stop breathing down our necks, and let us do our jobs. We learned not to rely on them for interpretation of what was right, but to ask our "captains," put in place by the Elections Office. They were the ones who had the final say.

Once the polls closed, we had huge numbers of absentee ballots to process, registrations to enter on forms, etc.

When we finally ran the vote totals, all of us, poll workers and poll watchers from both parties, stood around the machine and watched the tape come out. Each poll worker signed the tape so that there were five signatures on each of the three precincts that votes there. We had all seen the tape come out of the machine, and that's what we were testifying to.

We use paper optical-scan ballots. We had a couple of jamming problems with the machine during the day and a couple of times when it wouldn't read the ballot that was being fed, but very few other problems. I like that system.

I know that each ballot was counted and that there were many systems in place to ensure accurate counts each step of the way.

After my experience doing this, I will be less hesitant to assume voter fraud.

I HIGHLY recommend that many of you go down to your Elections Office and apply to be a poll worker. Then treat the office and your fellow workers with respect.

Jeanny
www.bushrelativesforkerry.com

[Lefta Dissenter]

1. I worked at my polling place

for a 15-hour shift yesterday - my first time to work there. (on edit: my first election day to work there - my first day was technically on Friday, helping to receive and register absentee ballots) BOY did I learn a lot, and as I've posted in other threads, I appreciate our Town Administrator's commitment to count every vote. He was doing his best to locate absentee voters who had forgotten to sign envelopes, and he even drove to some of their houses to make sure he got what he needed. We ended up with only four ballots that had to be rejected because their issues couldn't be resolved.

I love the optical scanners, as well. It knows that an individual vote overrides a straight ticket, it tells you instantly if you have over-voted, I just don't understand why everyone doesn't use these! They're a helluva lot cheaper than the electronic voting machines, and you only need one per polling place. And there are those wonderful boxes of ballots at the end of the day - that can be recounted if necessary!

Our precinct has used these machines for years and years, so for those familiar with the system, it's easy to see right off the bat why the machine might be rejecting the ballot. Most frequently it was because someone had mailed in a ballot that was marked with ball-point rather than marker, but other times it would be for a stray mark or, on one occasion, an overvote for president (voted for Kerry AND Cobb!). Even the ballot with the overvote could be used, with only the Presidential vote removed, so that person's vote for the other offices weren't thrown out.

We didn't have lines to speak of, because about a third of our residents voted early or absentee. We had plenty of staff, so we could have four tables for people to check in through (and receive ballots) and a separate table for registrations.

Our turnout was between 90 and 95%. Many voters showed up with books or newspapers in hand, and complained that we weren't providing them with line-time to get reading done! We kept people moving, and because we had a BUNCH of booths available, there was never a huge line.

My only complaint runs along with yours. We had a repug operative there the entire time. He wasn't challenging people, but I am offended by having someone peer over my shoulder, marking his palm pilot as I'm marking my books. I finally told him to shut up, because in his confirmation of names, etc., he was obviously indicating that those people were in his list of repub voters in the precinct. They should have to keep their trap shut the entire time they're there (not that I think they should be allowed to do that on election day at all).

[BushRel4Kerry JH]

2. Did you have many registrations at your polling place?

We had close to 1,000 new registrations or changes of address to process between the three wards that voted at my polling place. That's part of what took us until 1:30 am to finish up.

Jeanny
www.bushrelativesforkerry.com

[Lefta Dissenter]

3. I'm not sure how many registrations we had

since those were being done in another room. It wouldn't have been close to a thousand, though, because our total turnout including absentee was 3498 voters, if I recall correctly. But every time I walked through that room for something, there were 4 or 5 voters (future voters, that is) filling out paperwork. The Town Clerk was there processing them right away, and the secretary getting them into the books. She spent the entire day doing data entry.

We had a good system for all work with the absentee ballots, with three people involved (and witnessing) at all times. We got most of the processing done through the day, so the ballots could just be fed into the machine at the end. For those few people who expressed concern about the privacy of their absentee votes, given the fact that we live in such a small town, they can feel at ease. Once all of the information was checked (signatures, etc.) and entered, the envelope and ballot were separated, with both face down. The envelopes went back into their boxes, and the ballots were stacked (still face down) to be fed into the machine (still face-down). I will feel totally comfortable with early voting in our precinct as long as we keep this Town Administrator! :)

[Andy_Stephenson]

4. Poll workers are great...

it is the central tabulator you have to worry about.

read why at

www.blackboxvoting.org

[BushRel4Kerry JH]

7. This is true

We don't have touch-screen machines. I think the opscan systems are pretty reliable.

I agree that something needs to be done about those machines, but it's important to remember that they are used in a tiny percentage of precincts across this country. We have to keep up the pressure to make sure there is accountability, absolutely.

But if part of the worry about election fraud is voter intimidation and disenfranchisement, one more thing we CAN do is try to work the polls. We can make sure that, at least on our watch, things are going as smoothly as they can.

Jeanny

[kimchi]

5. I have enquired.

I can't work a full day shift, and would have to find MY OWN partner to split a shift. Screw that.

I WILL, however go to every damn board meeting and hook up with BBV. The machines have got to be auditable.

[BushRel4Kerry JH]

6. Why is that a disqualifying imposition?

Do you know another like-minded person who would split with you?

I ended up working from 6am to 1:30am yesterday. It was a killer day, to be sure. But not every election is going to be like that.

Jeanny

[kimchi]

8. If I knew someone I would have done it. n/t