My election experience (rant)

[Platapus]

This past election, I was once again, the precinct chief at my polling location. Precinct chief is just a fancy name for Point of Blame.

This election 99.998% of the voters were polite and posed no problems. They understand the rules and even if they don't agree with them the followed them and therefore were able to get in and out quickly.

But there is always the .002% that just seemed to want to make my day just a bit harder.

First there was the campaign worker. From every entrance/exit of the polling location there is a 40' exclusion area. This is officially called the Voter Sanctuary. Campaign workers must remain outside this 40' area. It is state law. Every campaign worker is given a sheet of these and other rules by their party and I have copies of the rules with me in the polls.

This worker was waiting inside the 40' zone and when a voter walked up, he left the 40' zone and handed out his propaganda. Then he would go back inside the 40' zone.

I received three complaints from voters. I went outside and politely explained the rules and asked him to remain outside the 40' zone like the rest of the workers. I am always polite in these situations as I feel that it is my primary goal not to escalate any issues.

Well this young man told me that he was not campaigning while inside the 40' zone only outside so I could not tell him where to stand.

Hmmm Well young man, actually, as the precinct chief, I can tell you where you can and can't stand in accordance to State Law.

I went inside and got a copy of the campaign worker rules and showed it to him where it clearly stated where he could and could not be and gave the state law citations. Then the attitude really started. He pointed out that this was not a copy of the law but a paraphrasing of the law and that he knew what the law was. Evidently he thought I was hard of hearing as he was right up in my face.

Yeah, just what I needed.

Fortunately, I also know the law (they cover it in the chief's training class) and as part of my documentation I have in both hard and softcopy the actual state laws. I went back into the polling location and retrieved the state law which clearly states that a campaign worker must remain outside of the 40' zone and that any person inside the 40' zone who is not a voter, election officer, or a very limited list of exceptions is guilty of Loitering which is a form of trespassing as the polling location legally, on the day of the election "belongs" to the State Election Commission.

I was really tempted to call the police. But I really did not want to escalate this. But his "in my face attitude" was the last thing I need to put up with. That and I had three voters who officially complained to me, indicated that I needed to take some action.

Fortunately, my Assistant Chief, went outside to talk to this young man. And my Assistant Chief, De-escallated it nicely.

Evidently this young man neglected to bring a chair with him. What he wanted to do is sit on a light pole foundation until voters came in.

My Assistant Chief offered this young man a chair from inside and everything was great.

Why did this young man not tell me this at the first. He could have asked me if he could sit on the pole foundation. I would have said no, but would have offered him a chair. We are not adversaries! I had a good Assistant Chief.

Later that day, we had what we call a "Low Information Voter".

This voter checked in and was issued a ballot. He looked at the ballot and complained that there were no political party affiliations for most of the candidates. I explained that it is Virginia State Law that below a certain level, candidates are only identified by their names and do not have any affiliations associated with them. This has been the state law since before I became an election officer and that was over 10 years ago.

He starts disrupting the line loudly proclaiming that this was BS. Well it may or may not BS, but this is not the time to complain about it as I can't violate state law.

When I tried to explain this to this voter, at least he had the decency to state that he did not think I was BSing him, but that the law was BS.

"How can I vote if I don't know the party?!?!?!"

This triggered what has happened to me on several elections. I had a schizophrenic event. My consciousness split into two. It is a fear of mine that one of the days, I will get the two of me mixed up.

INNER PLATAPUS: Well maybe you should have done the slightest amount of research and actually learned the names of your party's candidates. That would have spared you this embarrassment and my annoyance. You should go home. If you are too stupid/lazy to even know the name of the candidate you want to vote for, you really should not vote.

OUTER PLATAPUS: I am sorry Sir, but the state law dictates the information on the ballot and we are not allowed to advise the voters in any way on how they should vote.

"Well can I go back outside and get a sample ballot?"

"No, I am sorry, Sir, once you check in and receive a ballot, if you leave the polling location, the state law requires me to void your ballot"

"That's BS! That's a stupid law"

I don't make the laws, and perhaps I don't even agree with the laws. But as an Officer of Elections, it is my duty to carry out the laws.

"Can I yell out the door and have one of the workers bring me a sample ballot" (all the time still disrupting the line behind him)

INNER PLATAPUS: Oh, this is going to be good.

OUTER PLATAPUS: "No Sir, they are not allowed inside the 40' Zone

INNER PLATAPUS: He he, yes, you can't leave the polling location and the campaign worker can't get withing 40' of the door. Perhaps it would have been better to pull your head out of your butt and come to the polls prepared???

"Well, what am I gonna do??"

INNER PLATAPUS: (sigh) Lets help out this voter. What is the goal? The goal is to get people to vote

OUTER PLATAPUS: "Well, Sir, there is a trash can over there and there may be a sample ballot in there that you can use"

INNER PLATAPUS: Oh yes, Low Information Voter digging through a trash can because he does not even know the name of the people he is voting for. This is working out swell!!!

Well, he found a crumpled up sample ballot for his party and with its help was able to actually fill out a ballot.

What was amusing was that one of my Election Officers later told me that there was this lady who was watching what this man did and she also went over to the same trash can and rummaged though it looking for a sample ballot.

Yikes! I understand that some people like to vote straight ticket. That's their right as a citizen. But to be such a slave to a party that you don't even attempt to learn a candidate's name, I just don't understand.

I honestly feel that what the citizens really want is a ballot with no names on it but just Rs and Ds... and better yet, an ability to select "all R" or "all D" with one mark. That would make the voters happy.

Yikes!

I just keep thinking of the 99.998% of the other voters.....

[ikalugin]

Inevitable friction of democratic process.

[Jimbuna]

You Sir, must have the patience of Job. I've been to a few similar scenarios over the years and whilst you're quite correct in your assessment and desire of de-escalation I can honestly say the temptation to simply 'lock em up' usually won after a couple of attempts at pacification.

[AVGWarhawk]

I understand that some people like to vote straight ticket.

And that is what got us where we are. A rudderless ship on a voyage to nowhere.

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

You Sir, must have the patience of Job. I've been to a few similar scenarios over the years and whilst you're quite correct in your assessment and desire of de-escalation I can honestly say the temptation to simply 'lock em up' usually won after a couple of attempts at pacification.

Armed Election Officers may not be the best solution... but we might give it a try? once? Just once???

[Oberon]

[vienna]

+1 on the above...

A number of years ago, I went to the local polling place and got there just a few minutes after they opened. Usually, the polling place is staffed by a few paid county poll workers and a few other volunteers, usually senior citizens looking to occupy their day and do some thing to support the process. This time, however, the polling place was being supervised by a young fellow, in his thirties. The poll was in chaos and the staff was cowering. From what I could gather, the supervisor was either very, very ill-prepared or he was in the middle of a mini-psychotic break. He was ranting and raving, loudly declaring the poll was in a mess, not of his doing, and nobody would be allowed to vote until he went back to the county election headquarters to get further instructions (a trip that would take about an hour each way). As I watched him meltdown, I knew nothing good was going to come of staying there, so I quietly asked one of the other poll staffers, a rather fear-filled little old lady if she had the phone number for the county election headquarters. She passed me a paper with the info as if she were smuggling out state secrets, all the while keeping an eye on the manic supervisor. I went outside, called the election office, and told them about the situation. They said they had received another call, but, since the supervisor was not answering his phone, they were dispatching someone to remedy the problem. I was instructed, if I wished, to go to another poll outside of my precinct, explain the situation to the people there, and ask to vote on a provisional ballot at their poll, which is what I wound up doing. I never saw the manic supervisor again when I voted in subsequent elections, so I guess his day as a poll supervisor did not end well...