do NOT stand in long lines to vote on tuesday

[mopinko]

without trying to fix it.
go right now, get your phone. load the numbers of your local board of election, your state's attorney, and this number- the obama campaign Voter Hotline: [phone]-VOTE.

i went to early vote yesterday. i was told the wait was 2 1/2 hours. i didn't have that kind of time. but i went and talked to the judge that was tending the long snaking line. i asked her if they could get more machines. she told me there were 2 more machines but they had no place to put them. except that they were in a room with a collapsible wall into an empty room. so i asked why they didn't put them there. she said the park district wouldn't let them (most early voting places here are park fieldhouses)
so, i talked to the park guy. "yes, the room is empty. but i don't have anything to do with that, that is the board of elections." so i dragged him over, and had him repeat what he had said to the judge. she bloviated about why she couldn't do anything, then asked me to leave the building! (she was quite a snot.) after passing out the number for the board of elections (which is in my phone because i usually judge) i got outside and called.
boe says they will check it out. i call my alderman. he calls the board. about 15 minutes later, he calls me back to say that they sent a supervisor out, and they were setting up the machines.
he also sent an email to his rather extensive email list to tell them that the wait was shorter at the polling place in the next ward, and that they could go there.

now, i am pretty sure that anyone turned away will vote on tuesday. also pretty sure that more people got through the line because i didn't take 2 1/2 hours for an answer.
i am not anybody big. i'm sure we all know someone who could help out in that situation like my alderman did. especially if it were tuesday.
so, be prepared. have a plan. have a place to start. know the rules. don't take forever for an answer.

add your suggestions for contact info you should have here. i know there have been some twitter tags mentioned. i am sure there are some good websites.

ok, get it? BE PREPARED. you can make change happen.

[NYC_SKP]

1. Thank you for doing these things, mopinko, and thank you for this post.

K/R

These people are fools, or crooks, or both!

[mopinko]

9. in this case i think mostly fools.

sometimes the people who volunteer to be judges are not the sharpest knives in the drawer, but it is one day. early vote judges are a little more so, since it is several weeks. i think they get a little more attached to the polling places that you do in one day, too.
i have had a run in with them before. they forget who they are there to serve, and feel free to kick a voter out of the polling place for having the audacity to point out that they are doing things wrong.
too bad for them i know my rights as a voter.

[freshwest]

32. Wow mopinko, glad your'e on DU to tell people how it's done! Respect, mo.

[elleng]

2. FABULOUS WONDERFUL WORK you did, mop,

and you're right, we can ALL do something, if we THINK, take initiative, and ACT!

[Magginkat]

57. OH PLEASE replace Cantor

What a despicable scrap of humanity. If I were still in Virginia he would be my Rep. How embarassing. I've been trying to find phone numbers to call in his district.

[elleng]

60. I sent you a p.m.

w contact for calls in the district.

THANKS

[WinkyDink]

3. "the wait was shorter at the polling place in the next ward, and that they could go there." WHAT?!

[mopinko]

13. early voting here is open to any voter at every polling place.

there are 50 in all, one in each ward.

[WinkyDink]

25. Ah. Here in PA, if it's Tuesday, it must be the correct polling station!

[mopinko]

27. yes, on tuesday.

but early voting can be anywhere. it is all on touch screen so that any of the possible ballot styles can be called up.
actually, it is kind of irritating, in the reason for that is simply that the records are all on paper. the early voting has access to the entire data base, but election day has only the names in the book. we can call and have a voter looked up, and send them to the right polling place, but it would be better if they could just let them vote wherever. we have a touch screen that is equally programmable, i am sure.

[robinlynne]

20. not a good idea. that means you will vote provisionally. That means there is an extra step to decide

whether or not to count your vote, LONG AFTER election day is over.

[mopinko]

44. no, our early voting lets you vote in any polling place.

votes counted either way.

[robinlynne]

69. How do they check you on a roster then? Do they just accept the ballots and check later?

republican or dem sec of state in your state?

[gkhouston]

74. They look you up in a list of registered voters for the county.

The voting machines are electronic here, so when they give you an access code, it brings up the correct ballot for your precinct.

[robinlynne]

75. sounds good then. except for the part where the machines are electronic..... Here (california)

if you vote in the wrong precinct, your vote is provisional, and counted up to 28 days after the election, if counted.

[mopinko]

78. lists of early voters are part of the judges packet on election day.

they are printed on stickers so that they go on the applications for ballot.
dem sos.

[hollysmom]

4. I never stand in long lines when I vote,.

I can't believe how different it is across the country. It should be so many polls for so many people plus or minus a few.
I voted since I was 21 (different rules then) and as a child, accompanied my parents to the polls. I don't think I have ever seen more than 3 people in line, although now I do tend to vote during the day. When I worked, I used to go in at closing.

Either we have a very bad percentage voting, or things are not even across the country.

[frazzled]

15. Me either, and I've voted in 4 different states

New York (twice: NYC and Buffalo), Minnesota (Mpls.), Massachusetts (a Boston suburb), and now Illinois (Chicago).

I've never had to wait very long, if at all. And I live in a big city, in its biggest ward. And three different precincts vote at my polling place. I can't imagine waiting in long lines... though I'd do it to cast my vote if I had to!

[mopinko]

19. sometimes it is honest miscalculation.

early voting grows every election here, and i think they just got caught off guard. i think the fact that they brought in extra machines shows that they sorta knew, and did something, it just wasn't enough. the "shorter" line, at the other polling place, was over an hour.
but sometimes it is very deliberate and the "shucks, we didn't know" bit is an amazingly effective disguise.

[NightWatcher]

5. bring a chair, a bottle of water, a snack, and a book to read...but STAND IN LINE

[mopinko]

16. i'm not saying don't stick it out to vote.

i'm just saying do something about it. a 2 hour line is voter suppression. it shouldn't take 2 hours.

[freshwest]

34. My folks said this is how they deny working people the vote on Election Day.

Unlike other countries, it is not a National Holiday. So people are afraid to be late to work, or they are struggling to get to the polls in traffic or weather or can't find parking to get out and walk in.

Family members described how their GOP boss would make them work a 12 hour shift to make sure they could not to the polls before work started or the polls closed, which was 7 to 7 only. They even bragged how they would keep 'the blacks and Democrats' from voting. Americans have been disenfranchised by this process for years.

I had a union job and although I could not have made the drive to work on time in the morning, I made it when I got off before 7. They didn't mess with us. Now I live in a state with mail in voting, which eliminates all of this hardship.

Thanks for what you did for the other voters.

[lunasun]

43. yep that mandatory overtime just popped up always for election day

early /mail voting opens opportunity
early voting here had waits- more folks voting this year maybe

[freshwest]

46. How much better would this country have been with all the workers' voices heard?

How much better, with minorities involved, to have a more just and equal society years ago? How many wars could have been avoided, environment kept for future generations, minds educated and moving together as one? The losses have been incalculable.

We have a lot of ground to cover to have America live up the dreams of the Kennedys, Martin Luther King and so many others who wanted the best for all of us. This election will only be the start of a new era.

Am I too naive, too idealistic?

I don't know. But when I have seen all those young faces of every kind at the Obama rallies, I feel that our future is in very good hands. We need them to show up now, as they are and for community and state election from now on. To never stop being involved, to make their views known and their voices heard. We need them.

These laws can be changes, society and government can be changed. I really do believe that.

[mopinko]

79. it would be a different world if everyone voted.

if all voices were heard, as you say.
i get really pissed at people who don't vote.

[freshwest]

81. Or discourage others from not voting. The vacuum of non-voters will be filled by corporate voices.

Which also tells people there is no point in voting. Everything they say is exactly the opposite of truth. When people say they are against government they are ignoring history:

"...Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth." ~ Abraham Lincoln

We must be government, or corporations and plutocrats will govern us directly. The government was established to protect us from bigotry and theft. Now bigots ready to steal everything taking over, unless we get involved.

[YOHABLO]

49. Yes, There will be fewer voting machines and longer lines for minorities

especially in swing states. It really should be a National Holiday and why it's not ... well the reason is somewhere in the House of Representatives .. it's a shame we allow this shit to continue.

[NightWatcher]

42. oh I know you werent

I was just adding that I hope people are prepared for long lines. If it were supposed to be hot here on Tuesday and not cooler with a chance of rain, I'd be down at the polls handing out water and snacks to keep people there.

[thecrow]

6. Great job!

Thank you for helping all those people to vote!!!

[Lucinda]

7. KNR

[grantcart]

8. and that is how it is done.

[mopinko]

24. so everyone can do it!

[union_maid]

10. I have been amazed about the waits for voting in some places

And I don't understand it. I only realized how long when it was covered as part of the problem in 2004. I've been voting in the same place for about 40 and there's never much of a line. We have two polling places just in the immediate neighborhood. But OK, it's in the 'burbs. But when I was a little girl my father or mother would usually take me when they went to vote. We lived in NYC and the population was approximately the same as it is now. The line was never terribly long. There were tons of things we had to wait on much longer lines for as a matter of routine. And this was in New York City. So why is this such a problem in so many places?

[mopinko]

21. the longest lines i have had in a polling place of mine

was in '08, i opened the door at 6 am, and there were 20 people standing there. sometimes the last minute rush is about that many. but an hour? 2 hours?
there is just no excuse. they know how many voters there are. they know how many judges they need. and even if they have judges not show, you get a replacement in there.
no excuse. find out why. there is often a reason.

[Lefta Dissenter]

11. Thanks for the reminder!

I voted on our first day of early voting, but I'm loading numbers in my phone now, so I can help people more readily on Election Day.

Thanks for posting.

[Laurian]

12. I love seeing people taking action to remedy a wrong.

Kudos to you for resisting the bureaucratic bullshit and not accepting "no" for an answer.

[pnwest]

14. nice work!

[MineralMan]

17. Good job with that.

I'm assuming that there are fewer places to vote during early voting than on election day, right?

That seems to be the reasons for these long lines. I'm in a typical precinct in St. Paul, MN, and we have a 60% turnout for every general election. There are no lines at our polling place longer than four or five people on election day. That's one of the reasons I vote then. We don't really have early voting here, although, you can go in and fill out an absentee ballot just fine, but only at the county clerk's office.

There are never long delays at polling places on election day, though.

[mopinko]

23. there is one polling place per ward, whereas on election day

there is one per precinct. my ward had 22 precincts. so, yes, part of the problem.
another problem here is that it is all on the touch screen. on election day you can allow people to sit anywhere and fill out their ballots. this is a fairly long ballot, judges and all.

they did just cut us down from 42 precincts, so i will be curious how things will go. there will be a lot of confusion, too, about where to vote. people just have a habit, if their polling place doesn't change for a long time, of not thinking about where to vote. very frustrating for all involved.

[MineralMan]

29. There was redistricting here, and some precincts, and their polling

places have changed. It may be confusing. My precinct boundaries didn't change, though, and our polling place is still the same as it has always been. It's easy here to find your polling place, though. Both the county and the state SOS web sites have places where you type in your address and get your precinct and polling place instantly.

Minnesota doesn't mail sample ballots out, though. What I did, while canvassing my precinct, was to put a printed flyer with the polling place location on every door in the precinct. The DFL party is also sending out flyers and voting recommendations. It's all part of the GOTV effort.

[mopinko]

31. sshhhh.

you are only supposed to put the flyers on the doors of the dems. geeez.

[Honeycombe8]

18. Our area has laws that allow wheelchair or infirm people to "curb vote." Check out your county's

election website to see if they have the same. That is, if someone is infirm or in a wheelchair, their relative can drive them up, go inside, get a poll worker to come out and get her vote at the curb. She does NOT have to go inside or wait in line!

[mopinko]

22. good reminder.

i believe in illinois a disabled voter can be moved to the front of the line if they have id that show they are disabled.

[Cha]

26. Good job, mo.. Thanks for all the sage advice!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

28. Very smart way to get out the vote. Great post!

[silvershadow]

30. My suggestion:

If you *have* to accept waiting for hours, do it! They have to let you in to vote if you are in line at closing time. I applaud you for doing your part. Sounds like they just weren't using all available resources. Bet that is the case in other locations as well. I love the idea of pre-programming the numbers into your phones. Don't let them steal your vote. Report any irregularities. Let's rock this place!

[mopinko]

41. it's ok to wait, just don't waste the time.

make sure that your voice is heard, and that those in charge know that we are wise to their tricks.

[animalcrackers]

33. Many props to you Mopinko!

If everyone toom your example and used their voice, stood their ground, and pushed for resolutions one can only wonder what we could achieve (and I suspect that a lot like you are driving the progress we all seek to attain). And thanks for posting this as well.

[hootinholler]

35. "i am pretty sure that anyone turned away will vote on tuesday" -

I disagree with that mo. Only damn thing I could find to disagree with too. On some primal level that gives me a sad

The rest is sound advice. It took me all of 30 mins to vote early in Md.

[mopinko]

39. i'm sure there will be a few.

i thought about qualifying that statement, but chose to be an optimist.
looked like a really great crowd tho, and i know that many of them left to go to another ward to vote. there were 2 other sites within a 10 minute drive, or a short bus ride. one said that 80% of their saturday voters came from my ward. so, many have already voted.

[rso]

36. mopinko

Great work, you sound like a good people person. Congratulations !.

[markpkessinger]

37. Wish I had the option of early voting...

But in New York, the only way to vote early is to cast an absentee ballot, and you have to provide an excuse for why you can't vote in person.

[mopinko]

40. we also have 'no excuses' absentee voting.

i mean, wtf. excuses. like we are 2.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

38. GREAT POST. Thank you nt

[MrMickeysMom]

45. Great Idea...

I was just reading in the paper that Federal prosecutors and FBI agents will be on duty on Election Day to field complaints of voter intimidation, bribery, vote buying and related crimes. I'm going to keep that hot line number on me.

Not sure where you are, but Tuesday's the only day we vote in PA. I'll keep your info on me, too.

We have no other choice BUT to be prepared, mopinko...

[zentrum]

47. You are Fabulous! n/t

[davidpdx]

48. I hope more people can keep a watch out for areas that need help

and do something about it.

[Divine Discontent]

50. thank you! :)

[mikus1957]

51. Tell everyone you know to look up a sample ballot before you vote.

I heard Florida has 10 pages on some of their ballots. Look online by searching sample ballots for your county & state. It will come right up. They are padding the ballots with long amendments or bills. If you read it at home first, write down on paper. You can take a lot less time voting. If everyone did it, would stop those tea baggers plans in the trash! Pass the word around!

[tpsbmam]

77. Good advice and welcome to DU, mijus1957!

I'm in NC and we can go to our voter registration at the BOE site and access our sample ballots that way. I print out my ballot and mark it as necessary. I don't have to do the partisan races -- I'm familiar with all of those candidates and vote for all Dems anyway. During primaries, when I'm not familiar with all of the candidates, it gives me time to research them, make my decisions and mark the sample ballot(s).

In elections like this one, we got lucky -- only 2 pages. I had to research most of the judges and a few other nonpartisan races so I printed it out, took my time doing my research and went to my early voting spot with my marked sample ballot in hand. (I also then give it to my friend/neighbor, who works and has 3 little kids and doesn't have time to do the research that I do. She and I have agreed 100% on votes over the years, so she's thrilled with having that voting assistance. Occasionally in primaries I've had a marginal decision, and in those circumstances I take a little time to tell her why I picked the candidate I did and what I thought the other candidate's plusses and minuses were, as well as basic info on each.)

Hope you have a blast on DU! Come here for some sanity tomorrow.....if DU can be considered "sane." At least you'll find like-minded folks who are celebrating or commiserating!

[mrsadm]

52. OMFG thank you

[Separation]

53. You were successful were others failed,

Because you offered solutions and not just problems. Thank you.

[-LOKI -BAD FOR YA]

54. we should make sure we get rid of corrupt board of election officials.

i do not understand why we do not take this seriously,the board of election,they count our votes.vote by mail is the way to go.

[fanfan0711]

55. Ok, so did YOU vote?

And if you didn't, aren't the lines going to be longer than 2 1/2 hrs closer to election day?

[mopinko]

63. i didn't but

there will be no such lines on election day, tho i suspect they will be longer than usual as redistricting cut our number of precincts/polling places in half. but i will vote midday, and likely have only one or 2 voters ahead of me.

[ChillZilla]

56. Or, just go on Tuesday...

This whole early voting thing has left me somewhat confused. Lots of talk about long lines and wait times, for what benefit?

Early voting polling places are a fraction of the number that will be available on Tuesday. What's the rush? If it's not more convenient, don't go.

I just feel like the early voting has been so emphasized this year that many people that could just have easily voted on Tuesday have gone out and clogged the lines for people that really won't be available on Election Day and need an alternative.

Plus, I like to go out on Game Day.

[mopinko]

65. i think it gives gives you a second chance.

if for some reason you find yourself missing from the rolls, or whatever, it gives you time to straighten it out.
and i think it really does help to turn out the hard working voters. people who work 2 jobs, who ought to be heard, get a chance to vote.

i didn't like it at first, and still distrust the machines. but in the end, it is a vote in the hand.

[UCmeNdc]

58. Thank You!

For standing up and not letting the situation drag you down.

[struggle4progress]

59. thank you, mo!

[sevenseas]

61. k&r!

[louis-t]

62. The people that are waiting in long lines are heroes.

There is NO excuse for lines that long. I am very fortunate that I have never waited more than an hour and that was only 1 time in '92. I can see my polling place from my house and know when the best time to go is.

[shanti]

64. it always amazes me

to see posts talking about people who have looooooong waits to vote. i've never had that experience in my almost 40 years of voting.

[mopinko]

66. i hope it bodes well for our guy.

the longest lines i ever had as a judge were 2008, when there were 20 people in line when i opened the door.

[thefrankster]

67. thanks for being an active part of our democracy!

http://freelyfrankie.com/2012/11/05/where-is-our-nation/

[mopinko]

68. I JUST WANT TO ADD SOMETHING HERE-

this is why everyone should be a judge at least once in your life. it was because of those experiences that i knew how things should work, knew who to call, and was not intimidated.
it is a long, goddamn hard day. but it is a great experience that i recommend to everyone.

[Slit Skirt]

70. great job and thanks

[trailmonkee]

71. great example

[RebelOne]

72. I avoided the lines by doing an absentee vote.

When I saw on TV all the long lines for early voting, I immediately went online and printed out an absentee voting application. I received my ballot in the mail, filled it in and mailed it back the following day. Easiest voting I have ever done.

[mopinko]

73. here we have "no fault" or "no excuses" absentee voting.

states where you still have to have a real excuse to vote an absentee ballot need to get with it.

[alp227]

76. My state has vote-by-mail. That should exist in all 50 states.

I think it's about time the feds set a condition that all federal elections must have vote by mail.

[mopinko]

80. THEN THERE IS THIS-