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...

[Platapus]

It is a very stressful position. I have never seen one crash like what you wrote, but I can also imagine that happening.

I am not kidding when I wrote that the position is actually Point of Blame. So much is out of my control but still under my responsibility.

I have a good team but I have worked with less than good teams and the stress can become overwhelming.

I am sorry you had to experience that. It sounds like the governing body did not do such a good job in training the chief.

[Wolferz]

[Platapus]

I don't care who people vote for. I vote my way, you vote your way. But all I ask is that people truly think about their vote.

This was not the first, nor will it be the last, election where I have had voters complain that the ballot does not spoon feed them the political parties.

Perhaps what the public really wants is proxy voting. You just send in your proxy to the local chapter of your political party and let them make the decision for you.

Sigh

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Platapus

But all I ask is that people truly think about their vote.

Good statement, but here in the UK there are areas where you could put a pig up for a candidate in rock solid seats with the party's rosette on and people will vote for the pig.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by STEED

Good statement, but here in the UK there are areas where you could put a pig up for a candidate in rock solid seats with the party's rosette on and people will vote for the pig.

No longer the case in Scotland but still is up North

[STEED]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

No longer the case in Scotland but still is up North

Took the Scots years to exchange one pig for another maybe.

[vienna]

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>

[Platapus]

Originally Posted by vienna

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"...


<O>

What you are referring to is called a "null vote" i.e. a vote cast but not for any candidate. Null voting is a valid vote and can be important.

The political parties pay attention to the number of Null Votes. The number of ballots cast and the totals of the votes are public information and the political parties pull these numbers after the election. Everyone also has access to the total number of registered voters. These pieces of information can give political parties some significant information.

Someone who does not vote is simply indicating that they don't care about the election

Someone casting a Null vote is indicating that they do care but don't like any of the candidates.

There is a big difference between the two. The political parties are very interested in getting the second type of citizen on their side.

The person who does not care about the election will probably continue not to care regardless of what the parties do. They are going to spend a little time/money getting the word out, but most of their attention is going to be on the second -- a person who cares enough about the election to come to the polls but does not vote for any candidate.

Lets look at some examples from a primary

Example 1.

5000 registered voters in precinct A

Candidate A - 1200 votes
Candidate B - 1100 Votes

46% voter turnout close race. Most people don't care either way

Example 2

5000 registered voters in precinct A

Candidate A - 1200 votes
Candidate B - 1100 Votes
Null/under vote - 1500

76% voter turnout and the majority did not want either candidate

This is important information to the political parties.

The first example illustrates voter apathy
The second example illustrates candidate apathy

This is why it bothers me when people tell me that they don't vote because they don't like either candidate or, worse, their vote won't matter.

If you don't like the candidates, let the parties know via the Null vote. It is a powerful tool.

In the last election, we had write in votes for this one office. The majority of the write in votes were for some variation of "none of the above". This is another way of casting a null vote.

Null votes won't affect the election they are cast in. With few exceptions, elections in the US are based on a plurality of votes and not a majority of votes.

Not voting means you don't care
Null voting means that you do care

Political parties know this.