Polling Station Problems In California - HuffPo

[WillyT]

6:44 PM ET Polling Station Problems In California

Voters in California are reporting a trend in last minute, unannounced closings of polling stations this morning.

Jerry McNutt reports that even after receiving confirmation about the locations of polling stations near him in North Hollywood, a number of stations were closed without explanation. Not even election officials knew the reason behind the closings. McNutt wrote in an email:

After receiving my third location notification regarding my polling place, I was surprised to hear that at least three polling places in my area were closed at the last minute. Voters were driving around to other areas trying to find an answer and a way to vote. The man in charge of the polling place told me that he had no warning about the last minute closings and had no idea why those location would be closed.

Fellow North Hollywood resident Judy Dent reported the same problem. Having voted at the same station for 14 years, she was shocked to see it closed this morning and had been moved. When filing a formal complaint with the California Secretary of State, she was told that the locations were updated online, even though the volunteers at the station she visited were uninformed:

After checking online days before and using my sample ballot with the address, I was re-routed three times before 8am this morning when I found out my regular polling place was closed. An additional polling place directed me to another place which was closed. I had to vote provisional because I was on no lists even though I was two blocks from my neighborhood. Turns out they changed my polling place either last night or this morning. No explanation. It was frustrating.

In San Mateo, California, voters also reported not receiving absentee ballots. This has lead to a shortage of provisional ballots and concern over whether the provisional ballots will be counted. Local resident, Cooper Drinkward recounts his experience:

The workers at the polling location said they had heard that from a lot of people today. I heard 2 other people with the same problem in line while I was filling out my ballot. Also, when I was given my provisional ballet it was the last one left on the tablet. This was at 10AM, so I would guess most people had not voted yet, and that seemed like a large number of provisional ballets to be going through so early in the day.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/02/election-day-2010-live_n_777736.html#94_polling-station-problems-in-california

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