Possible Republican Dirty Tricks in RI Primary..

[Tellurian]

<developing>

Disaffiliation Forms In Short Supply At Some Precincts (read: "disappearing")

Republican Primary Expected To Draw Unaffiliated Voters


PROVIDENCE -- Some voters in Rhode Island complained about a shortage of disaffiliation forms at polling places Tuesday.

Rhode Island allows unaffiliated voters to vote in either the Democratic or Republican primary and then immediately disaffiliate by signing a form.

An unusually high number of unaffiliated voters was expected to vote in Tuesday's primary because of a contentious U.S. Senate primary between Republican incumbent Lincoln Chafee and challenger Stephen Laffey.

The state Board of Elections had poll workers deliver additional disaffiliation forms to various precincts when the first shortages were reported by mid-morning.

The board had printed 20,000 forms.

"What we had advised people prior to the election was, if it looks like you are in need of more forms, just contact the Board of Elections immediately. And as an alternative, you could use the voter identification form," said Thomas Iannitti, acting chairman of the Board of Elections. "We've already started talking about whether or not we change that whole process and maybe use the book -- and sign the book when you leave the polling place to eliminate the need of having that paperwork."

Voters who were unable to disaffiliate at their polling place immediately can still do so by contacting their local board of canvassers.

http://www.turnto10.com/politics/9832985/detail.html

This story was posted on 9/12/06

However, today, my 9:00 am news bulletin mentioned theres been complaints from various precincts of a *disappearance* of disaffiliation forms.
Story developing..

[Tellurian]

1. Words used by our local broadcaster were Disappearance /Irregularities.

He also said, many complaints over the disappearance and irregularities during primarys.

I hate teaser news blurbs. But, this little blurb hasn't been picked up by mainstream nationally yet.

[grizmaster]

2. They weren't "disappearing"

I worked one of the polling places. The disaffiliation forms were in short supply by mid-morning, but twice when we ran low the board of canvassers had more forms to us within a half hour. By the end of the day we were using forms from pre-year 2000 that had the date area partially filled with 19__ .


The two people at my polling station that had both worked that spot for decades said the number of people disaffiliating after the vote was easily 10-20 times more than they had ever experienced. So while maybe the board of canvassers could have done a better job of anticipating it, it was a record setting number of people and the board was right on top of correcting it (at least I can vouch for EP).


I'll tell you, I do like the idea of streamlining the process to just a simple signature line form.

And as you point out, even if people couldn't disaffiliate on the spot they have two years to fill out another form in time for the next primary.

[Tellurian]

3. Well, I wasn't so fortunate..

I can only speak from a voter's perspective.

We have Opi-Scan Voting in my town. It was difficult enough to "fly the airplane into the hangar"
so to speak, the voting machine needing coaxing to accept the ballot ie. jiggling, wiggling, straightening..

The person standing at the machine was available but quickly found something more important to do away from the voting
machine than helping voters posting their ballot. (this is for real) I'm an Indy..NO one offered a disaffiliation form or where to fill one out. I didn't think much of it at the time..but now, finding out it wasn't just me...hmmmm!

I'll wait and see what other info rises the surface.

[grizmaster]

4. They aren't required to offer the disaffiliation form

just that the clerk have them available. At the polling place I worked we were letting every voter know that we had disaffiliation forms available.


The machine we had worked great, and from what I gathered that was true throughout EP. As you point out each voters experience and each polling place is different. But as they say REAL democracy is messy.


If you think they is likely to be similar problems at your polling place may I suggest you see if you can work that polling station. I called my board of canvassers looking to volunteer and found out they actually pay you to do the job ($110 in my case). So I took a paid vacation day from my regular job and added my eyes to a polling place to make sure there were no shenanigans at at least one polling spot. Nothing replaces seeing with your own eyes that each and every ballot comes out of the machine and gets into a sealed box for transport to city hall.

[Tellurian]

5. Our polls are run by local seniors

It's been a tradition here over the years. The retirees man the polls and is considered a plum job, almost a matter of status, if you catch my drift. I wouldn't want to deprive them of their due and have them angry because they weren't able to commiserate with their friends for the day. Politics in my town are a high profile endeavor. Everyone knows everyone. The crime rate is almost nonexistent here because the local PD doesn't hesitate to pull over unfamiliar cars traveling on the only 2 main roads leading in/out of town.

At any rate, I appreciate you're input and suggestions and will wait to hear from the board of canvassers if there was evidence of any shenanigans going on. Our local newspaper, the Prov Journal, is a Republican controlled newspaper, so I've not read anything regarding this inquiry into 'disappearing disaffiliation forms and other irregularities'.

We'll just have to wait and see.

[Tellurian]

6. Well, someone sanitized the skinny on the headline..

That'll learn ME!

Our local news was relegated to complaints from the Visually Impaired for not having
the proper access to the new Auto-Mark machines. Having high school volunteers setting up
the machines, unfortunately without a $40.00 ink cartridge necessary to record the vote.

The situation was remedially corrected through the old fashioned methods using regular machines..

I don't care what you say...

The initial headline scrubbed and replaced with a newer version for appeasement.