Be nice to me; I voted
I voted today, and I want a cookie. Or at least a sticker.
My polling place ran out of ballots at 6 p.m. I showed up around quarter of 7. Tired, hungry people--just off work, ready for dinner, missing their families--were leaving in droves. More ballots were finally delivered around 7:15. When they let us in, the line to check in went all the way down one long wall, looped back on itself, went all the way back up the wall and out the door. I finally turned in my completed ballot at about 10 of 8.
It seems six other precincts ran out of ballots. Precincts in Hyde Park, Mattapan and Dorchester. Minority-majority precincts. Poor precincts. Democratic precincts. I hope it's just coincidence. I hope the causes of these shortages will be investigated. Most fervently, I hope policies, rules and laws will be changed to ensure it never happens again.
It's exceedingly easy to avoid this form of disenfranchisement. It's shameful this state didn't.
My polling place ran out of ballots at 6 p.m. I showed up around quarter of 7. Tired, hungry people--just off work, ready for dinner, missing their families--were leaving in droves. More ballots were finally delivered around 7:15. When they let us in, the line to check in went all the way down one long wall, looped back on itself, went all the way back up the wall and out the door. I finally turned in my completed ballot at about 10 of 8.
It seems six other precincts ran out of ballots. Precincts in Hyde Park, Mattapan and Dorchester. Minority-majority precincts. Poor precincts. Democratic precincts. I hope it's just coincidence. I hope the causes of these shortages will be investigated. Most fervently, I hope policies, rules and laws will be changed to ensure it never happens again.
It's exceedingly easy to avoid this form of disenfranchisement. It's shameful this state didn't.