A long while back, current California Governor Jerry Brown espoused the idea voters should have the choice of "None of the above" in primary nominating elections and was actually able to get the option on the ballot for a single election. I recall, the day after the election, the tally showed "None of the above" had the most votes; the newspaper headlines read "Jerry Brown's Nobody Beats Everybody"...
@Platpus:
The incident i described was really very much of a one-off. I have not had any other bad experiences, other than the run-of-the-mill glitches that occur during any election process. I don't think the supervisor in the incident was poorly trained; I got the impression he, himself, had most likely been out the night before and was struggling through the morning after, but, rather than owning up to his failing, he was trying to lay blame on everyone else. As I said he was a bit young and maybe not the best suited to the task...
I have gotten some amusement from some of the senior citizen volunteers over the many years of voting. The voting process here involves going down to the poll, presenting a sample ballot received in the mail with your voting ID printed on it to a trio of poll workers seated at a table. The first takes your ID info and enters it on sort of log sheet, calling out your name and address to the second worker, while you sing the log sheet; the second worker opens up a large book which is a master list of all the registered voters in the precinct, finds your name and address, verifies the info, then crosses your name out; the third worker then gives you your ballot, and off you go to the booth to vote. One election, the second worker at the table was a rather elderly and nice lady. The first worker called out my name, so the lady opened the book to the first page and carefully turned each page, getting to about the page where my name should have been, and then she stopped, looked at the first worker and asked "What was the name, again?". The first worker repeated my name and the lady closed the book, opened it to the first page, and, again, carefully and slowly, turned each page, again getting to near my page and, again stopping to ask for the name. Finally, on the fourth time, she managed to get to the page, remember my name, and all went well afterward. When this happened, I was in my late 20s and was patient with her because I had been taught to make allowances for the elderly since one day I would be the elderly person who would need a bit more time or effort to what is effortless to youth. Now that I am nearing the point in my life where the simple becomes difficult, I have a great appreciation for the effort of that elderly election worker...
<O>
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