|
Edited on Wed Nov-03-04 11:44 PM by Vote_Clark_In_WI
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).
|