Any voting precinct workers here?

[Sancho Panza]

I recently obtained the paperwork to sign up for working the polls for all of 2004's elections, from the primary in winter through the Big One in November.

I at least want to make sure MY precinct counts the votes. :-)

I should hope that ALL of you legally eligible to vote in the United States are registered. If not, DO SO.

Also, volunteer in some capacity to make a difference. :hi:

[Ellen Forradalom]

1. I'm a deputy voter registrar

in the City of Chicago.

I'll also be involved in circulating petitions to get Howard Dean on the ballot.

[Sancho Panza]

2. I have a question

Which election? The primaries? I thought it would be a given that all of the candidates still in the running at the time of the primaries would automatically be on the ballot - provided that their campaign people ensure the paperwork is filed. I am woefully ignorant on Illnois, or at least your local law, lol.

Do the other candidates have to have similar petitions? Can anyone start these petitions, or is that part of your department's duties?

Thanks in advance!

[Ellen Forradalom]

5. For the primaries, yes.

And yes, other candidates need to circulate petitions. The campaign usually coordinates this since it's very important that the petitions be correct.

[Sancho Panza]

6. ah, very simple then

I made it more complicated than needed. You are overlapping your Dean campaign work with your local precinct work. That isn't a conflict of interest, or is it just at the polls where strict neutrality is required?

[Ellen Forradalom]

8. Voter registrar isn't precinct work per se

but neither is it campaign work. I was sponsored to become a registrar by a nonprofit, the Midwest Democracy Center, and I can't electioneer when I do registration.

[benddem]

3. Oregon no longer has Precinct workers

Cause of Vote by Mail. I did work in a precinct in WI and couldn't believe what they said was going on in FL.
Every precinct needs good workers. Please volunteer for these jobs in your precinct.:) And thanks Sancho...keep an eye out for those Repugs.

[Sancho Panza]

4. good to hear!

I don't think ANY of us STILL can believe what happened down in FLA. Interesting about Oregon, too. Thanks for the feedback and urging more of us to volunteer!

[gristy]

7. Aren't "vote counting judges" or something like that still needed?

Can't get too many eyes on those ballots when they are being handled and the votes counted. What are your impressions about how voting by mail has worked out? How long have you been doing that there?

[dfong63]

9. i'm a precinct poll worker

but at least in my area, we don't tally up the votes. we just make sure the voting procedures are followed (only registered voters get a ballot), and keep track of the number of ballots submitted. at the end of the day, we ship the ballots to election central, where they're counted by an optical scan machine.

still plenty of room for shenanigans, outside the scope of my duties.

[Sancho Panza]

10. true enough

I don't know the procedure here yet, but I at least can provide ONE secure link in the chain.

[dfong63]

11. good luck

I don't know the procedure here yet, but I at least can provide ONE secure link in the chain.

i share your sentiments, but my (admittedly limited) experience says we probably can't even do that. it seems to me that the voting procedures we're told to use, are full of holes. the most i can do is ensure that the procedures are followed. however, i do believe that having honest people present at the polls does REDUCE the opportunities for fraud.

[Dookus]

12. I was...

a precinct volunteer once. It was fine, actually. A long day, but it was fun.

We had to get there early, set everything up, then spend the entire day from open 'til close signing people in, answering questions (without giving ANY advice or interpretation on ballot issues), then at the end, close everything down, and then, to my great surprise: PERSONALLY SCAN EVERY BALLOT.

I had no idea this was done. We use a card-system where the voter draws a line with a marker to fill in an arrow to record his vote. It's put into a machine, and at the end of the day, we had to visually scan every ballot for double-votes, bad marks, etc. Then we had to drive the ballots over to City Hall and do some bureaucratic stuff.

I actually loved it, but I won't do it again, and here's why:

I couldn't STAND not being home watching the returns. I am such a political junkie that it was torture for me. Plus, I live in California, which means we're at the END of the voting day in the US.

oh.. one other reason. I was the only young man among a bunch of old women. And I mean OLD. So I hadda do all the heavy lifting. :)

[MaineDem]

13. I am

I'm what we call a "ballot clerk". We check in voters, give out ballots, check voters out and make sure they deposit their ballots in the box. You see, we still use paper and pencil.

When all that is done, we get to sit down and actually count the votes! What a concept. :)

In Maine, the parties nominate people to this position but not everyone knows that.