I can't get Tom Jones's dulcet tones out of my head. I'm always so pscyhed to be at my little polling station in bucolic Belle Meade TN because the turnout has been so good so far. I was there yesterday from 4 - 6pm (closing) and saw babies and 20-something's and even a Down Syndrome voter - yes! I will be there everyday now until it ends on Oct 31. That will give Davidson County Election Officials 5 days to get their shit together for The Big One. I've attached a link above for all of you to find out if you have early voting. If you do PLEASE do it - they can't steal a landslide and early votes have a greater liklihood of being counted accurately (I kid you not).
Early Voting Stats for for Monday, 10/20/08:
1303 total votes cast @ BMCH
65699 total votes* cast in Davidson County (* probably low by 100 or so votes because one polling station was still voting at 6pm due to lines)
There was pretty much a steady line all day of 30 or so except for the first hour and the last.
Issues: I met Marian Ott, my League of Women Voters Organizer, and I also met Lynn Greer, an Election Commission official. I know Marian spoke to Hal, Poll station officer, about better securing the PEBs. I'll be checking on that today.
Colin Powell tries to mitigate his Faustian bargain by endorsing Obama with some of the most thoughtful and intelligent rhetoric so far. And he points to the elephant in the room - racism - and sez: So what if Obama was a Muslim? Check it out at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27265490#27265746
20 October 2008
19 October 2008
Days 3 & 4 of Early Voting
On Friday 10/17 I arrived at 10am and stayed until 12:30pm. It was another big day with 1,357 total votes for the day. The day before had clocked 1,306 but I didn't go that day (went to the Jack Daniel's Distillery instead - yee ha!). Despite the line the average waits in line were 12 – 15 minutes and then once they got to the counter it took on average 2 minutes for the clerks to look them up, validate them and print their voter “application”. Hal Sauer, the poll station officer, told me there were about 20 people in line at opening.
A very distressing incident did happen while I was there. A chic African American woman was delayed substantially at the registration check in (at least 15 – 20 minutes) because her signature on her Driver’s License didn’t match how she had signed her voter "application". I heard the poll worker say at one point “I just don’t want your vote to be disqualified.” Hal was called over and the woman did finally get to vote and I spoke to her outside. She said that a) she’s voted here before with no problem and b) she thought the poll worker was “too elderly for the job.A little soft in the head.” Now WTF was that all about? Who is going to be checking signatures once this woman votes. And she's got a valid driver's license with her - with a photo. I mean is it her or isn't it? Signatures change and graphology is a mixed bag at best from a positive ID standpoint. I can't stop fuming over this - it really seems like that insidious, embedded racism that, in my opinion, all whites in authority have to guard against. I didn't see anyone hassling any white people about their signatures matching. I am going to pursue this iwth the Election Commission - just to get it on record.
On Saturday 10/18 I was there for opening. There were 41 people in line and by 8:45 112 votes had been cast. But by 8:23 the rush was over and it was just two’s and three’s coming in with long periods of no one coming to vote. However at 8:43am a 30 - 40 yr old man came in demanding a provisional ballot so that there would be a paper record of his vote. Denied that, he voted on a machine and then made a loud scene about how the second vote request in the program was a possibility for fraud because that confirmation did not show how your votes were being cast. Frankly I agree with him – it is a sloppy system and with no paper record it does seem open to fraud. That said the guy made an unnecessary racket there – it’s the Election Commission not the individual polls that are to blame here.
Also I met Carol Little the Republican poll watcher for this station and she is a genuine pest.Gives anyone that will stand still long enough an earful about whatever is crossing her mind at the moment. In response to my somewhat laissez faire statement that I didn't have a fixed schedule to be at the polls she found it necessary to say "well I guess the Republicans are just more organized than the Democrats" - clearly evidenced by how well the McCain campaign has been going. And I had just met the woman! Her personal raison d’être as a poll watcher is to look for anyone wearing campaign paraphernalia and to try to get them disqualified from voting (especially if it’s an Obama button). She’s there everyday from noon – 2 or from 2 – 4 when the polls are open ‘til 8pm.I'm sure I'll have conference calls during those times.
The down time on Saturday gave me a chance to quiz Hal and some of the other poll workers more carefully. Here’s how they’re running the operation there: the signs outside were put up the first day and will stay up throughout the election season. At the end of the day they close the lids on the voting machines (but do not turn them off) and place the PEBs on the little card table they have set up in the room. On Saturdays they will power down the machines. A note on ADA accessiblity – there have been 3 or 4 wheelchair bound voters that I’ve seen. They are assisted by Hal usually at registration and are then seated at the card table and a poll worker takes one of the voting machines (its just a tablet computer) out of its booth and sets it up on the card table and it seems to work fine.
I'll post results for Saturday on Monday. Y'all get out and VOTE!
A very distressing incident did happen while I was there. A chic African American woman was delayed substantially at the registration check in (at least 15 – 20 minutes) because her signature on her Driver’s License didn’t match how she had signed her voter "application". I heard the poll worker say at one point “I just don’t want your vote to be disqualified.” Hal was called over and the woman did finally get to vote and I spoke to her outside. She said that a) she’s voted here before with no problem and b) she thought the poll worker was “too elderly for the job.A little soft in the head.” Now WTF was that all about? Who is going to be checking signatures once this woman votes. And she's got a valid driver's license with her - with a photo. I mean is it her or isn't it? Signatures change and graphology is a mixed bag at best from a positive ID standpoint. I can't stop fuming over this - it really seems like that insidious, embedded racism that, in my opinion, all whites in authority have to guard against. I didn't see anyone hassling any white people about their signatures matching. I am going to pursue this iwth the Election Commission - just to get it on record.
On Saturday 10/18 I was there for opening. There were 41 people in line and by 8:45 112 votes had been cast. But by 8:23 the rush was over and it was just two’s and three’s coming in with long periods of no one coming to vote. However at 8:43am a 30 - 40 yr old man came in demanding a provisional ballot so that there would be a paper record of his vote. Denied that, he voted on a machine and then made a loud scene about how the second vote request in the program was a possibility for fraud because that confirmation did not show how your votes were being cast. Frankly I agree with him – it is a sloppy system and with no paper record it does seem open to fraud. That said the guy made an unnecessary racket there – it’s the Election Commission not the individual polls that are to blame here.
Also I met Carol Little the Republican poll watcher for this station and she is a genuine pest.Gives anyone that will stand still long enough an earful about whatever is crossing her mind at the moment. In response to my somewhat laissez faire statement that I didn't have a fixed schedule to be at the polls she found it necessary to say "well I guess the Republicans are just more organized than the Democrats" - clearly evidenced by how well the McCain campaign has been going. And I had just met the woman! Her personal raison d’être as a poll watcher is to look for anyone wearing campaign paraphernalia and to try to get them disqualified from voting (especially if it’s an Obama button). She’s there everyday from noon – 2 or from 2 – 4 when the polls are open ‘til 8pm.I'm sure I'll have conference calls during those times.
The down time on Saturday gave me a chance to quiz Hal and some of the other poll workers more carefully. Here’s how they’re running the operation there: the signs outside were put up the first day and will stay up throughout the election season. At the end of the day they close the lids on the voting machines (but do not turn them off) and place the PEBs on the little card table they have set up in the room. On Saturdays they will power down the machines. A note on ADA accessiblity – there have been 3 or 4 wheelchair bound voters that I’ve seen. They are assisted by Hal usually at registration and are then seated at the card table and a poll worker takes one of the voting machines (its just a tablet computer) out of its booth and sets it up on the card table and it seems to work fine.
I'll post results for Saturday on Monday. Y'all get out and VOTE!
18 October 2008
Early Voting - If you have it, Just Do It!
So I've decided to change the name of the blog (but not the address yet) from Val in the 'ville to The Yammering Yank. Nobody but outsiders actually call it the 'ville. In fact natives pronounce it Nashvull. And I find that I talk much faster than most people here and without their overall gentility (though I am by no means a boor, but possibly a bore at times). So Yank fits, I think.
On to today's post - there will be several of these up through election day because I volunteered as a poll-watcher for the League of Women Voters! I guess they're pretty desperate for warm bodies.
In Tennessee I guess they have Early Voting - this is very cool. Any registered voter can go to any Early Voting Poll station (In Davidson County there are 162 regular polling stations but only 12 are early voting locations). Early voting runs for 14 days starting Wednesday October 15th and through Thursday October 30th (but of course not Sundays).
So here's my diary for the first 4 days of early voting for 2008!
Even though Nashville and Davidson County governments have been incorporated together as a single entity since 1964, Belle Meade (which is all that it sounds and very, very red) retains it's own local government for a few services. Hence they have their own city hall. Here are some interesting stats about opening day: There are 13 poll workers there plus the officer. There are six women operating the computers where they look up the voter, check their ID and registration status and, if all good, they print out an "application" which is really an affidavit that you've voted but not a record of how you voted. Then you take that paper to a voting booth worker (there are 10 voting booths at BMCH). They have an electronic key (PEB) that they stick into a voting machine (these flat electronic tables with big LED screens). They activate a ballot for you and then you touch the screen and vote. They had about 5 people waiting at 7am and approximately 30 – 35 when the polls opened at 8am. At 4:58pm there was a lull so I voted and was the 17,699th vote cast in Davidson county.(The total for the day was approximately 18,000. In 2004 on the first day of early elections it was 8,000).
At 5:30 pm 1,215 people had voted atBMCH
IF YOU CAN VOTE EARLY DO SO! VOTE INVALIDATION - PURPOSEFUL OR ACCIDENTAL - IS HARDER TO ACCOMPLISH WITH EARLY VOTING. CHECK OUT THIS 80 MINUTE MOVIE: "UNCOUNTED: THE NEW MATH OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS". IT'S AMAZING! www.uncountedthemovie.com - this sober and well made film shows actual fraud, incompetence and everything in between. Learn how to protect your vote!
Also check out the results of this international poll - note the #'s voting in Australia, Canada, and elsewhere. http://www.iftheworldcouldvote.com/results
On to today's post - there will be several of these up through election day because I volunteered as a poll-watcher for the League of Women Voters! I guess they're pretty desperate for warm bodies.
In Tennessee I guess they have Early Voting - this is very cool. Any registered voter can go to any Early Voting Poll station (In Davidson County there are 162 regular polling stations but only 12 are early voting locations). Early voting runs for 14 days starting Wednesday October 15th and through Thursday October 30th (but of course not Sundays).
So here's my diary for the first 4 days of early voting for 2008!
Even though Nashville and Davidson County governments have been incorporated together as a single entity since 1964, Belle Meade (which is all that it sounds and very, very red) retains it's own local government for a few services. Hence they have their own city hall. Here are some interesting stats about opening day: There are 13 poll workers there plus the officer. There are six women operating the computers where they look up the voter, check their ID and registration status and, if all good, they print out an "application" which is really an affidavit that you've voted but not a record of how you voted. Then you take that paper to a voting booth worker (there are 10 voting booths at BMCH). They have an electronic key (PEB) that they stick into a voting machine (these flat electronic tables with big LED screens). They activate a ballot for you and then you touch the screen and vote. They had about 5 people waiting at 7am and approximately 30 – 35 when the polls opened at 8am. At 4:58pm there was a lull so I voted and was the 17,699th vote cast in Davidson county.(The total for the day was approximately 18,000. In 2004 on the first day of early elections it was 8,000).
At 5:30 pm 1,215 people had voted at
IF YOU CAN VOTE EARLY DO SO! VOTE INVALIDATION - PURPOSEFUL OR ACCIDENTAL - IS HARDER TO ACCOMPLISH WITH EARLY VOTING. CHECK OUT THIS 80 MINUTE MOVIE: "UNCOUNTED: THE NEW MATH OF AMERICAN ELECTIONS". IT'S AMAZING! www.uncountedthemovie.com - this sober and well made film shows actual fraud, incompetence and everything in between. Learn how to protect your vote!
Also check out the results of this international poll - note the #'s voting in Australia, Canada, and elsewhere. http://www.iftheworldcouldvote.com/results
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