The Longest 16 Hours (reposted from DailyKos)
I worked my first stint as a pollworker yesterday and fuck was that a nightmare.
1.) We really didn't have many people who voted (about 150) but there were enough that were trouble to make the job onerous and annoying.
2.) Number of people who jammed our "InkaVote" machines by folding the foldable ballot before trying to vote it: 5
3.) Number of times I was called upon to perform ballot extraction surgery on an "InkaVote": 4
4.) Fellow pollworker who bailed on us after a fight with the Precinct Inspector: 1
5.) Pollworkers left to man an entire precinct at a combined two-precinct polling place: 3, including one who was having to supervise both polling places.
6.) Number of times I "InkaVote"-d my own skin to show how hard you were supposed to push to make an impression: 3
7.) Number of seniors and other generally clueless who needed special care: lost count.
8.) Time spent trying to reconcile ballot count until the three spoiled provisional ballots were finally found: 1 hour.
Oh yeah: this November we're getting ballot reading machines which will supposedly "proofread" ballots for voters. I don't know how trustworthy the system is, though. Here's the skinny on it from VoteTrustUSA:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=392&Itemid=51
At least Debra Bowen is the Dem candidate for Secretary of State now. She's squarely in the camp of "no more Black Box Voting." If you care about CA escaping Diebold Hell, support her. http://www.debrabowen.com/
Also, support Phil Angelides. He's our horse in the race against Ah-nuld now. Wouldn't a win by Angelides against Herr Gropenfuhrer be neat? Revenge of the Nerds, baby. Time to use your head as a toilet brush, Arnie. http://www.angelides.com/
1.) We really didn't have many people who voted (about 150) but there were enough that were trouble to make the job onerous and annoying.
2.) Number of people who jammed our "InkaVote" machines by folding the foldable ballot before trying to vote it: 5
3.) Number of times I was called upon to perform ballot extraction surgery on an "InkaVote": 4
4.) Fellow pollworker who bailed on us after a fight with the Precinct Inspector: 1
5.) Pollworkers left to man an entire precinct at a combined two-precinct polling place: 3, including one who was having to supervise both polling places.
6.) Number of times I "InkaVote"-d my own skin to show how hard you were supposed to push to make an impression: 3
7.) Number of seniors and other generally clueless who needed special care: lost count.
8.) Time spent trying to reconcile ballot count until the three spoiled provisional ballots were finally found: 1 hour.
Oh yeah: this November we're getting ballot reading machines which will supposedly "proofread" ballots for voters. I don't know how trustworthy the system is, though. Here's the skinny on it from VoteTrustUSA:
http://www.votetrustusa.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=392&Itemid=51
At least Debra Bowen is the Dem candidate for Secretary of State now. She's squarely in the camp of "no more Black Box Voting." If you care about CA escaping Diebold Hell, support her. http://www.debrabowen.com/
Also, support Phil Angelides. He's our horse in the race against Ah-nuld now. Wouldn't a win by Angelides against Herr Gropenfuhrer be neat? Revenge of the Nerds, baby. Time to use your head as a toilet brush, Arnie. http://www.angelides.com/