Urban, Diverse Areas Not Given Enough Voting Machines

[babylonsister]

:nuke:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/04/urban-diverse-areas-not-g_n_140971.html


Urban, Diverse Areas Not Given Enough Voting Machines
Sam Stein
November 4, 2008 12:35 PM



TMZ, of all sites, has an interesting story up about a political saboteur telling Democrats in Deerfield Beach, Florida that they are supposed to vote at a different location.

Putting aside, for the moment the dirty tricks going on, there is another important nugget to glean from the story.

Nearly 400 people were firmly planted in line at 6:15 this morning, waiting for the polls to open at 7:00 AM. There is one voting machine to accommodate all of them.

This is a predominantly African-American community, with only one machine to punch in residents' votes.

Contrast that with an email we received from a voter near Columbus, Ohio, where, he says, historically very few people show up to vote. There were 14 voting machines on hand -- in this case, a needed amount for the influx of nearby college students showing up to the polls.

At 6:10 I was 31st in line. By the time the doors opened there were more than 100 in line. I am 57 years old and this is the first time there were more than 3 people present prior to the doors opening. Usually I am the first and only voter at opening. I finished voting by 7:00. The tech still had about 14 machines to start up and get running. About 60 people had voted and about 250 in line. The entire crowd was Students and people older than me. We're next door to {Ohio State University}.

This problem is a constant gripe of Democrats: there is simply not a proper, proportional allocation of infrastructure to meet the needs of densely populated communities. Indeed, the Huffington Post has been getting tons emails from urban locales reporting a lack of machines, election workers and even ballots necessary to deal with the high turnout.

[ORDagnabbit]

1. here in oregon we dont have lines.. we vote by mail. very simple and a paper trail to boot.

[OKNancy]

2. TMZ also reported they brought in a bunch more machines

FWIW

[babylonsister]

3. Thank you; I hadn't seen or heard that. Makes me feel a bit better.

Whoever 'planned' this needs a new job.

[1Hippiechick]

4. Why the HELL weren't ALL the machines set up and ready to go at 6:30? And I have another gripe:

where the HELL do they DIG UP these half-dead people to work the polls?!?
My experience:

I am sick to damn death of that BS! Slower than hell. I walk up to the table and POINT to my name, and they still sit there and look at it as if they are cramming for some type of friggin' exam. Then, they S-L-O-W-L-Y peel the label off, attach it to my paper voting record which, of course, has NOT been removed from the PAD that it's on, etc., etc. (I refrained from GRABBING the pad and ripping all the sheets off and then saying "Here. Isn't that easier and faster?" with a grimmacing grin.) Once I get my ballot, I walk over and wait my turn to vote. Then, a doddering old man comes up to me (and I think it is the same one who passed me outside asking for directions to where people are voting and I said "At the door beyond the person at the front of the line")and is going to EXPLAIN to me HOW to vote?!?! By this time, I am biting my tongue, saying things like "Thanks, but I've done this before and I'm ready to go!" Of course it falls of deaf ears. And then I am bobbing my head up and down furiously in agreement with everything he is saying, while saying to myself "Jesus H. Christ. Is there no effing end to this?!?!?
And then, I look up and what do I see? The stereotypical Southern redneck FATASS Sheriff's Deputy lumbering across the room--there to intimidate, I'm sure. And I'm thinking "How the HELL did you pass ANY kind of physical to become a deputy? What was on the test? Stuffing your gut?!?!"
So, the voting experience is one I can do withOUT.

What the hell we go through to vote.