Polling place drama

kddani · #1 11-02-2004, 04:39 PM

Anyone have some funny stories of their polling place drama?

Waited about 45-50 minutes... there were a ton of people there, only 3 voting machines. We were held up by a crotchety old disabled man. As way of background, they let the disabled find out who they would be in line after, then go sit until their place in line got there. Which is perfectly fine. This particular crotchety old man came in about 20 minutes after I and the people around me got there. However, he goes in about 1/2 dozen people ahead of us. He starts throwing a FIT because they want to see ID.
He's hooting and hollering that they're breaking the law, he's not a first time voter, etc. He goes aside, calls the elections office,
tries to put them on the phone with the polling person, he keeps
fighting. Everyone's getting bitchy b/c he's totally holding up the
line. He keeps on saying they're breaking the law. I say to him,
"sir, you're breaking the law. You're disrupting the polling place."
Of course, he's like "how am I disrupting?". Me: "you've seen the
line, you're holding up hundreds of people from voting". That kinda shut him up a little, he stopped bugging the poll workers (they were nice, they found humor in it- they asked me if i'd like to show my id, I said i'd rather them guess. Another kid in line offered to give a butt print, haha) and went over and talked to the two "observers" from the parties. Dude, if you have an issue, fill out the provisional ballot and talk to the lawyers. GRRRR. This other little old lady said she was going to fight him, we encouraged her!

KillarneyRose · #2 11-02-2004, 09:17 PM

I can't stand crotchety old people and Heaven knows Pittsburgh seems to be the crotchety old person capital of the east.

The thing about the ID got me thinking, though. When I went to vote this afternoon (Maryland), I wasn't asked for any identification. I just gave my name, they looked me up in the list of registered voters and I had to sign a slip of paper saying I'm who I am. I wonder if it varies by state?

Speechpath · #3 11-02-2004, 09:34 PM

I wasn't asked for any ID either which I find odd also...think you would have to show something other than just give your name.

honeychile · #4 11-02-2004, 09:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by KillarneyRose
I can't stand crotchety old people and Heaven knows Pittsburgh seems to be the crotchety old person capital of the east.

The thing about the ID got me thinking, though. When I went to vote this afternoon (Maryland), I wasn't asked for any identification. I just gave my name, they looked me up in the list of registered voters and I had to sign a slip of paper saying I'm who I am. I wonder if it varies by state?

Actually, it varies from polling place to polling place. LEGALLY, you can be asked for identification at any polling place, at any time - whether you're voting or campaigning or poll watching.

The polling place where I grew up was run VERY strictly, so I'm always surprised when I'm not asked for id or such.

God bless those crotchety old people! A lot of them are my clients! Geriatric = $$$ for me!

AnchorAlum · #5 11-02-2004, 10:02 PM

I had to show my driver's license. I had to wait in line this morning for 45 minutes, but everyone was very nice, people were behaving very well.
I live in a quiet neighborhood in a beach town in Florida, and I can tell you that my precinct - if yard signs count - will go heavy for the President.

kddani · #6 11-02-2004, 10:11 PM

LMAO because CNN and everyone kept on saying that the polls in Allegheny County (where us Pittsburghers live) were staying open until 9:30. Of course, this is incomplete reporting, they finally caught on that it was only for provisional ballots (we've had a lot of problems with voter registration here, people not getting their ballots, so if you don't appear on the roll you can fill out a provisional ballot).

The precinct that it's for:

Pitt students!
busloads of students that live in Towers are going down to the City County Building after not showing up on the voting rolls. The polling places ran out of provisional forms and students were turned away. So they get to go downtown and appear before a judge. This may also be due to the voter registration fraud that occured changing the registration of many of these students.

honeychile · #7 11-02-2004, 11:00 PM

Oh, some minor drama at my polls:

As I said, I was a poll watcher, and was keeping track of everyone who voted for the Republicans, and a woman with a young boy about 8 years old was doing it for the Democrats (but parties don't matter here). THAT KID WAS WILD!!! Finally, he sat down next to me, and started asking questions about what I was doing (I felt like saying, "ask your mother, kid!"), but it ended up being a fairly decent civics lesson for Kid-Who-Would-Not-Give-His-Name.

Not only was I able to explain that my vote was equal to his mother's and everyone else's in the room, and how to use a voting machine, but I taught him some of the finer aspects about "plunking" and other political fun stuff. Kid also learned that the Democratic Process involves more than one party, and that at his age, I had already been working the polls for my late dad for four years! The Democratic Process is not limited to those over 18!

Eclipse · #8 11-03-2004, 12:22 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by honeychile
Oh, some minor drama at my polls:

As I said, I was a poll watcher, and was keeping track of everyone who voted for the Republicans,

but I taught him some of the finer aspects about "plunking" and other political fun stuff.

questions for ya...

how did you keep track of those who voted Republican?

What is plunking?

It's not just the under 18ers who need education obviously!

honeychile · #9 11-03-2004, 02:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Eclipse
questions for ya...

how did you keep track of those who voted Republican?

What is plunking?

It's not just the under 18ers who need education obviously!

The computer geeks combed the results of each district for the past 3 presidential elections, then each other general election. They indentified those Republicans most apt to vote in general elections and issued them one value, and presidential elections, assigning them a second value. The poll watchers crossed off each "likely voter" as they voted, and at 5:30pm, those who hadn't voted were called to see if they needed rides, etc.

Plunking is when a multiple office is up for grabs, such as city council or delegate - an office that says "vote for (more than one)". If you vote for just one of those people, it's called plunking, as you are figuratively giving that person multiple votes by not voting for the full compliment. So, say that DeltAlum is running for council, and you can vote for up to four people. Voting for JUST DeltAlum is like giving him four votes!

WARNING!!!!! DO NOT write in someone's name if they already appear on the ballot! Those votes are cancelled out! Back when I was on the Board, I had to cancel out my father's votes more than once because of that!!

Sadly, I knew most of this before I was 12 years old...

And it frustrates me that more people aren't told about these moves!

honeychile · #10 11-03-2004, 02:44 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Eclipse
questions for ya...

how did you keep track of those who voted Republican?

What is plunking?

It's not just the under 18ers who need education obviously!

Also, a good grassroots level Democratic and/or Republican Committee keeps tabs on each time someone votes. When they are called, if they make any mention of how they plan to vote, it's noted. The Election Department keeps Street Lists, which are lists of each street, who's registered at which address, and for which party they're registered. Combine the Street Lists with the other lists/cards on likely voters, and you know to offer a ride to Mrs. Jones, but not Mrs. Smith!