Not the arguably-good kind of chaos — unruly throngs of new voters, eager to participate in the thrills of the electoral process, overwhelm a sleepy polling station. Democracy whiskey sexy! No, this was the certainly-bad kind of chaos: incompetent bureaucracy renders voting experience difficult to impossible.
So I show up at my decidedly non-thronged voting place — five machines, three or four workers, a handful of voters, no more than one or two hundred square feet in total. But my name is not on the list of registered voters. The volunteer worker seems not at all surprised; did I register recently, he asks? Well, it was some time in December — I’ve been receiving sample ballots and all that in the mail, so I know that my registration successfully went through. Ah, he explains, your name is probably on the “supplemental voter list.” Which, apparently, they don’t currently have. But it’s coming! They’ve sent another volunteer over to fetch it (from someone’s house, apparently — I didn’t pry), shouldn’t be more than another ten minutes.
So I wandered over to Starbucks to have a coffee and peer at the internets through my iPhone, and came back about fifteen minutes later. Now it was approaching lunchtime, and something of a throng was indeed gathering — fifteen or twenty would-be voters were squeezed into the tiny space. But there wasn’t that much voting going on. More than half of the people who showed up were, for some reason or another, not on the list of registered voters. They were now encouraging people to cast “provisional ballots” — you could vote, but it wouldn’t be immediately counted. Someone would later check to see if you were really registered, and if you were, then it would be added to the total. Did I trust the finely-tuned machine I saw before me to successfully check on my registration status? No, I did not. Besides, I wanted my vote to be included on the totals to be shown later tonight on CNN. But almost everyone affected did end up casting provisional ballots, amidst much grumbling and requests for the phone number of the Board of Elections.
I inquired about the status of the mysterious supplemental list. Well, it was explained, it was not successfully fetched. But now it is being faxed right here! So I settled back to observe the voting. (About five Democrats for every one Republican, but that shouldn’t be a surprise in Downtown LA). After about ten minutes I inquired again — still being faxed! That seemed like an awfully slow fax machine. So, to clarify, I asked whether it was actually emerging from the fax machine at present. Ah, no, but there were definite plans in the works to fax it! Soon.
At that point I gave up and left, although I plan to go back tonight and give it another shot — the polling stations are open until 8 p.m. (Sorry, East Coasters — California will be reporting late tonight.)
And then, of course, I walked back to my car in time to see an officer drop a parking ticket on my windshield. I had put (just to be safe!) about 36 minutes on the meter, but the whole affair took about forty minutes total. Our Board of Elections may make the Three Stooges look like the Kirov Ballet, but Parking Enforcement is a marvel of ruthless efficiency!
What an embarrassment.
Update: So I went back, inquired about the supplemental voter list, and happily it had arrived. (Not, evidently, by fax, but I was too polite to press the issue.) Sadly, my name wasn’t on it. I toyed briefly with the notion of flying into a Hulk-like rage, upending the table piled high with paperwork and generally inflicting even more chaos on the already-disordered polling station. But I decided that wouldn’t be productive.
So I filled out a provisional ballot, and whiled away the extra time in line commiserating with the others who were in the same predicament. It seemed to be a common occurrence, and the volunteers verified this casual impression. I suspect that my poor little ballot will never see the light of day, and the state of California will find itself bereft of my opinion that it’s okay to let the Indian casinos install more slot machines. (A weighty decision, the kind that the Golden State simply won’t entrust to its legislature, preferring instead to decide via the exciting mechanism of Direct Democracy.)
The much worse problem seems to be the hidden button that independent voters must push (on an already unwieldy butterfly ballot) to indicate that yes, not only are they expressing a preference for a candidate in the Democratic primary, but they would also prefer if their vote actually counted! Being a proud Democrat myself, I didn’t have to jump through the tiny little extra hoop.
I understand that the United States is slowly and painfully making it way toward becoming a functioning modern technological society, and wish it all the best during the difficult transition.
Sean, you said that you were voting in “Downtown LA” where there were “About five Democrats for every one Republican”.
Was it likely that most of the voters there were for Obama?
If so, could the difficulties have been at least in part attributed to pro-Clinton “establishment” dirty-trick efforts to reduce the Obama vote?
After all,
such things enabled Bush to defeat McCain in the key Republican South Carolina primary in 2000.
According to an LA Times article on 7 Feb 2008 by Richard C. Paddock
“… acting Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan said Wednesday that his office will examine more than 94,000 ballots cast by nonpartisan voters to determine how many votes for presidential candidates may have gone uncounted.
Logan said he also will try to determine whether the uncounted ballots would make a difference in the way delegates are apportioned between the Democratic presidential candidates and, if so, will seek legal approval to count as many as possible. …
decline-to-state voters in the county … discovered too late that they were required to mark a bubble on the ballot denoting which party primary they were voting in. Some complained that poll workers told them not to mark the bubble; others said they were unaware of the requirement, which is unique to L.A. County …
Exit polls showed that Sen. Barack Obama had a strong appeal among California voters who defined themselves as independent (regardless of their party registration), leading Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton by 58% to 34% in this category. ..”.
Tony Smith
“I understand that the United States is slowly and painfully making it way toward becoming a functioning modern technological society, and wish it all the best during the difficult transition.”
But still it has too few facilities where I can go to pasteurize my children!
(http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/2008/02/selected-minor.html)
Sean,
You should contest your parking ticket. Hire a large team of lawyers to argue that metering the parking around the polling place is an unconstitutional poll tax. It might be more expensive than just paying the ticket but it would be a lot more interesting.
Just what I need…
You support an organization which excluded Ron Paul from speaking. This in itself is against science at it’s core.
Science is the search for truth. All science must include all circumstance. No ommission or fact or possible fact.
If by your own action you create an outcome then your science is flawed.
You know this!!!!!
So don’t complain. You brought it on yourself. Let Dr. and I repeat DOCTOR Ron Paul speak. You may not agree with him, but science seeks truth and required all the facts to make a decision. Otherwise you live in belief and religion and not fact.
Look to your own for the problem and see your error of observation. You call yourself a scientist? hmmmmmmmmm
“..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority to set brush fires in people’s minds.”
— Samuel Adams
“With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions.” — Abraham Lincoln
“During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” — George Orwell
“The state can’t give you free speech, and the state can’t take it away. You’re born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom is something you assume, then you wait for someone to try to take it away. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free…”
— Utah Phillips
quixotic quest
I worked as a poll person at the Libaray in Pasadena Feb 2008. We had Many, many voters who had lived at their address for 10 years and more, that were left off the Roster that day. Mostly DEMOCRATS. I helped people fill about 45 Provisional ballots, which was an ENORMOUS amount for a small precint. HMmmmm…?
Trickery afoot with the printed rosters? That eve watching the news I found It was happening all over LA. Since we were smart enough to get rid of the Electronic voting Machines (with no paper trail) it seems we are now being attacked in another way. BEING LEFT OFF THE ROSTERS. Provisional Ballot are not counted till after a Decision has already been made and only then if its a close election. This is really BAD. In June I worked again at the polls and when I went to vote This time “I” was left off the Roster. I called the county Registars Office the next day, they assured me I was registered and I should have been on the Roster which meant whoever is printing out the Lists is at fault. After much searching I got ahold of Michael Petrucello of Technical Services by calling (562) 466-1310 and he is now supposedly trying to right the situation. He said he hadn’t heard about problems when I told him about the 45 provisional ballots in Feb. I think we’ll find that after the Presidential Election the Names left off, will “magically” re-appear back on the Rosters, If I were any of you that were left off the lists, you should check to see with the County Registars if you are registered and if so, and have been left off your precints Roster, Complain, Complain and Complain some more, Lodge complaints on the Hot line Above. Your RIGHTS are being taken from you.
Cel