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Election Day 2008 Diary
Staff members at OMB Watch went across various counties in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, DC on Election Day to help voters this election season. Our employer is a good nonprofit citizen: our personnel policy allows staff to take time off and volunteer for nonpartisan Election Day duties without having to use vacation time.
Kay Guinane- Election Protection in Northern Virginia
I signed up to work in northern Virginia, since that is only a one hour drive from my Maryland home and was a potential problem area, as the Washington Post reported 500,000 newly registered voters since the 2004 election. I was one of over 10,000 volunteers this year. I signed up through the Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights, which is one of over 100 Election Protection partner organizations.
The first step was a short training course at an area law school. It was heavily attended by both law students and practicing lawyers, and was only one of many such training events. We learned about voter registration requirements in Virginia and how to assist people whose name may have been moved to the list of inactive voters if they had not voted in a while, had moved or otherwise had a glitch in their registration. The project attempts to resolve problems so people can vote with the last resort of using a provisional ballot. We were assigned a partner to work with in four precincts and provided copies of Virginia election laws, the voters' bill of rights and phone numbers for lawyers to help with any problems we could not resolve. We also got T-shirts that identified us as Election Protection volunteers.
On Election Day I worked from noon to 7:00 p.m., when the polls in Virginia closed. My partner and I divided the precincts and kept in touch by cell phone to see how things were going. When I arrived at the precinct I checked in with the poll workers to identify myself and ask how things were going. There were enough poll workers to handle the crowds in each place, and things were operating smoothly. I stood outside, visible in my T-shirt, and handed out copies of the Virginia Voters Bill of Rights. There were only a few voters with questions, and the poll workers were able to take care of them.
There were long lines in the morning, and by 5 p.m. I expected the steady trickle of voters to increase and form more lines. But that didn't happen. The poll workers said that by 5:30 p.m. nearly 80 percent of the registered voters had already voted. That included a large number of absentee ballots, so the long evening wait was avoided. Voters kept arriving in the cold and rain right up until closing time, and everyone who was there by 7 p.m. was able to vote.
Not all parts of Virginia had such a smooth voting process, but Election Protection volunteers were deployed throughout the state to assist them.
Kelly Doherty- Poll Greeter in Arlington County, Virginia
When I arrived at 5:45 a.m. to the Aurora Hills precinct right around the corner from my apartment in Arlington, Virginia I was shocked to see the line that had already formed. Though the polls opened at 6, a member of the district said that he wanted to "get to the polls early and beat the line." Unfortunately for him, other like-minded individuals packed themselves in a line which wrapped around the SOC Enterprises building and around the corner to the perpendicular street. The average wait time for voters in Aurora Hills that arrived first thing in the morning was about an hour, and there were a few very patient voters that waited approximately two hours to vote. By 7:30 a.m., however, average waiting time for voters was cut down to 45 minutes, and even later after normal work day hours around 6:00 p.m., the wait to vote didn't exceed approximately 20 minutes at times when we though it would be most crowded.
Voters of all ages came out to vote in the precinct. Kids in Arlington had the day off from school, so many of them even accompanied their parents to the polls for Election Day. A five year old future voter asked me for a sample ballot so that he could learn how to vote like his mother. Nearly 78% of registered voters in Aurora Hills voted either absentee or in person for the 2008 election. 1,058 waited to vote in person on Election Day, and received the choice of electronic or paper ballot. Generous and kind neighbors as well as community members returned to the polls after voting to bring refreshments to their fellow constituents that were waiting in line and to give those volunteering at the polls the encouragement needed to continue the day in the rain.
Lateefah Williams-Poll worker in Washington, D.C.
On Election Day, I volunteered at Sherwood Recreation Center in Washington, D.C. as a poll worker. To prepare for this assignment, I attended a poll worker training sponsored by the DC Board of Elections and Ethics. I was trained as a check-in clerk, but they told us at the training that the precinct captain may reassign us to another position. I received a call from my precinct captain on the Saturday before Election Day informing me that we were to set up for Election Day on Monday, November 3 at noon, the day before the Election. Set-up on Monday took a couple of hours. I unpacked boxes and helped to assemble the electronic voting machine and many of the kiosks where voters stand while voting by paper ballot. As the youngest person at the polling place during set-up, I played a large role in setting up the machines and some of the other tasks that required a lot of moving.
I arrived at my polling place on Election Day at 6 a.m., as scheduled. Voters were already lined up outside of the polling place when I arrived, even though the polls did not open until 7 a.m. Inside the polling place, we went over the final logistics before opening the polls to voters. There were too many people who were trained as check-in clerks, so I volunteered to be the Electronic Voting clerk. However, I ended up being a jack of all trades due to needs that arose and the small number of people who utilized electronic voting. In addition to programming the electronic voter cards, I also assisted numerous voters who had physical challenges or other challenges that prevented them from voting without assistance. Furthermore, I spent a large amount of my time helping with special ballots. Individuals whose names were not listed on the voter rolls for our precinct were referred to the special ballot clerk. I was equipped with a blackberry and I assisted voters by looking them up in the database and either referring them to their correct polling place or determining the correct ANC district to ensure they received the correct special ballot. I also handled spoiled ballots and facilitated getting voters a new ballot, as well as following the procedures for the proper manner to seal and set-aside their spoiled ballot.
When we opened the polls at 7 a.m., the wait was already more than one hour from the back of the line. There was an extremely high level of voters in the first 3 hours that the polls were open. By midday, the large crowds had disappeared and turnout was light throughout the rest of the day. The election workers were a mixture of seasoned workers and new poll workers. The vast majority of the poll workers were senior citizens. There was one college student who volunteered at my polling place for the first 3 hours. Other than the college student, I was the youngest person at my polling place and one of a select few who were not senior citizens. My day began at 6 a.m. and it ended at 8:30 p.m. It was a long, but extremely rewarding day. My experience highlighted both the gratitude that we owe individuals who volunteer to be poll workers every election, as well as the need to mix in younger poll workers to ensure a smooth process.
Amanda Adams- Poll Worker in Montgomery County, Maryland
After reading about the Mobilize the Polls Program, an effort by Mobilize.org, I quickly found out how to become a poll worker in my district, Montgomery County, Maryland. The goal of Mobilize the Polls was to recruit 500 poll workers under the age of 30. At the age of 25, I was eager to be a part of an effort focused on youth involvement in an area that is stereotypically known to consist of older adults. I went to the Montgomery County Board of Elections website and filled out the needed paperwork to be a poll worker, referred to as an Election Judge in Maryland.
According to Mobilize the Polls' Facebook page; "With the new technologies that are being explored to enhance the voter experience, members of the Millennial Generation can contribute their familiarity with technology to aid other members of their community to cast their ballot this November."
After all of the paper work went through, I was informed by the Board of Elections that I was a Standby Voting Operations Judge. Even though I was not assigned a precinct I still had to attend four and half hours of training in case I got called to work. As a standby I had to be available up until 1 pm on Election Day if any precinct in the county needed additional help.
I attended my training class and felt a bit overwhelmed by the amount of information squeezed into one class. This made it very clear how important it is to have well trained, qualified people working at the polls. Maryland uses electronic touch screen voting machines and electronic poll books that hold information on every registered voter in the precinct. After watching a video, the class went over checking voters in with the poll book and the provisional ballot procedures. Everything involved with the voting machines was also thoroughly explained, including opening and setting up the machines, and how voters cast a ballot. After the class I was almost relieved that I was a standby judge, and worried that if I was called, I would somehow forget everything. The Sunday before the election I was informed that I was in fact assigned to a precinct; Bethesda Elementary School.
I had to attend a team meeting on Monday night to help set up, go over all assignments for the following day, and to get a general understanding of how the day would run. All workers had to report back to the precinct the following morning by 6 am. When I arrived on Election Day, two voters had already formed a line. After preparing to open, 7 am arrived quickly and the polls were officially open. We worked all morning as the line outside spread around the block.
I was assigned to start the day off working at the touch screen voting machines. Everyone that I was working with was very helpful, and offered to provide refresher training on any other area, such as getting the chance to sit as a check in judge. However, I didn’t want to learn something new. I stayed put at the machines; walking voters to machine and explaining briefly hot it worked.
After being checked in every voter is provided a voter access card (which is placed in the machine) and a voter authority card. The voter authority card is printed out by the electronic poll book, and is basically a receipt with all of the voters' information. It is placed in an envelope and kept with the machine. The machine keeps track of the number of ballots cast, and should match up with the number of voter authority cards. Throughout the day I counted the voter authority cards, and to make this easier as the day went on and the number of voters increased, I bundled them in tens then twenties. There were 18 machines in the precinct, and by 8 pm, a few had over 150 ballots cast. After the polls closed, three other workers and I counted the voter authority cards again.
Working as a poll worker on Election Day and being able to witness the election process first hand was a very worth while experience. Most of the day went by quickly, and except for the reminder from my aching feet, I felt no need to sit down or stop because I knew most voters were outside waiting for an hour. Most of the morning the wait was around an hour and started to slow down by mid afternoon and by 5:30 there was no wait at all. And yes, I was the youngest Election Judge, but I received the warmest thanks from everyone there. Being the youngest, I also was willing to provide any help with all of the manual labor and I waited longer than others to sit down or take breaks. I finally returned home after 10 pm. The long day was a valuable experience, and one I will likely repeat many times in the future.
I served on Election Day on the voter protection team at a polling place in Arlington, VA. My work on Election Day was interesting and rewarding, but not nearly as demanding as I'd been prepared for. As an attorney with some poll-watching experience in New York City, I though I could be most helpful working with the Virginia Promote the Vote voter protection program.
About a week before the election, I attended a training session in which the basic legal and voting operational procedures in Virginia were explained and some FAQs answered. We were told what to watch out of in the way of voter intimidation or actual disenfranchisement, and how to report infractions. We were given substantial materials detailing voting rights in Virginia.
The law permits two attorneys from each party to monitor the vote in each of the roughly 1800 polling sites in the Commonwealth -- one stationed in the voting room, one outside the immediate site. Since I'm not licensed to practice in Virginia, I had to take the outside post.
As Election Day approached, I worried that the weather would make the outside post an uncomfortable one. And sure enough, it was chilly and raining at 5:00 a.m. when I made my way to my assigned polling site in Arlington, VA., in the northern part of the state. And the rain would not let up all day.
Fortunately, however, "outside" did not mean "outdoors," so I was stationed in the front lobby of the McKinley Elementary School. Voting came off without a hitch. The bulk of the voting occurred before 8 a.m. The precinct was heavily upper-middle class and turnout there was 80 percent that day. I spent most of my time chatting with people on line -- when there was a line, making sure they had brought proper identification. Some voters needed to be directed to the voting room.
But no complaints arose, there were plenty of machines and all of them functioned properly. Ballots were plentiful. The poll workers were experienced and friendly. As far as I could tell, there were no incidents of irregularities. It was probably among the smoothest operations in all of the precincts in Virginia.
At OMB Watch, we found that one of the best experiences of the day at each of the polling places was quite similar. At the beginning, volunteers from the Republican and Democrat campaigns were polite to each other, but separate at first. By late afternoon, however, these good citizens were chatting with one another and setting a good example for civil civic participation that will hopefully be continued for Election Days to come.