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SFist has received scores of emails and a few comments today, Cathy-ing about the lack of ballots and alleged chaos at certain polling stations.
We asked a voting official today, who asked to remain anonymous, if the polling stations aren't well-equipped, if ballots are running out, and if the sky will fall.
Not so. According to our source:
We will NEVER run out of ballots. There are enough for this election. Turnout is high and even higher than anticipated in some precincts. This leads to a temporary shortage of ballots until a field deputy can deliver more securely. These drop-offs are sometimes delayed due to unforseen circumstances (breakdown of vehicle, issues at other precincts, etc.). All of the ballots for each precinct are not dropped off right when they open at 7am due to many issues: weight, security, and so forth. Some voters may need to wait in line at their precinct until they can vote. If they cannot wait, they can come back later, or go to another precinct and vote provisionally. Or they can come to City Hall and vote provisionally.Again, we are not running out of ballots. Every vote will be counted. Every person who has the right to vote and is in line by 8PM will be allowed to cast a ballot.
Hope this puts some of your frayed minds at ease.
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that sounds all well & fine but if people who knows when additional ballots will arrive. 3pm? 5pm? 7pm? most people don't have time to sit around waiting for new ballots to arrive. sf has made some really awful decisions if they haven't made enough ballot available for each registered voter in every precinct. democracy cannot be delayed.
Seriously, this is a slap in the face to working people. It's fine for laptop-toting self-employed types (uh, like me) but a real hardship for people with unflexible jobs. I don't think it's "Cathying" or hand-wringing to be pissed off about it.
While my voting experience was pretty quick and painless today, I must say it seems like some of the poll workers just showed up that morning for the first time. It is certainly noble to work the polls, but it seems like a little more training might be a good idea, especially for an election with the highest historical turnout.
The lady working the ballot-sucker machine at my polling station had no idea what she was doing when a problem occurred and was reading the manual. Big line built up.
Not really complaining, but just anticipating that this could cause big problems later in the day.
Jesus Christ, how does this become another "Rich versus Poor" shit toss? Next thing you know, so-called Progressives will take Sarah Palins playbook and start calling themselves the "REAL AMERICA" or whatever. Divisive. Dumb.
Here's a notion ... people are not machines. Just because you're used to getting hand fed information very quickly from your computer, humans aren't computers. Show a little patience with the volunteers... this isn't their fucking job that they do every day.
Can you tell I'm ready to get this election over with? :)
Easy for you to say. At precinct 3919 in SF they ran out of ballots at 10am. They didn't know when or if they would get more ballots. 60 people at least were turned away. Those people have to now go to work. They have to pick up the kids after work and feed them. They can't leave the kids alone with no babysitter and they can't afford a babysitter. So, YEAH, IT IS A RICH vs POOR thing! Rich people have options. Poor people have to plan their vote time very carefully. There is no excuse to run out ballots in this election, EVERYONE knew the turnout was going to be massive! Someone needs to be fired for this.
Well, the little old black ladies at my polling station were working that sucker like a NASCAR pit crew.
The line was around the block. The moment I finished my ballot they slapped me with the little red "Ya Vote" sticker and hustled me out double-quick. I was there 10, maybe 15 minutes, tops.
Solid.
I watched an election worker spill her coffee on a provisional ballot box this morning. :)
I'm pretty sure none actually got inside though.
THE SKY IS FALLING!
Coffee, that is. Plenty of ballots got inside.
poling place on mcallister was fine, NO line, in and out fairly quickly, maybe 12 minutes total including time to park - the poling workers were not so quick, however, i have that grip with them every year so it was pretty much business as usual.
Why is it every time someone in San Francisco snaps their fingers and the world fails to start revolving around them, there are demands for someone to be fired?
You can wait for more ballots. You can go to another polling location and get more ballots. Or you can stand there and rant at the polling place workers (or us, if it suits you) because no one anticipated something that hasn't happened before. Pick one.
"Get more ballots" should be "cast a provisional ballot," damn.
Please remember folks.... NO POLITICKING WITHIN 100 FEET OF A POLLING PLACE! That includes wearing clothing endorsing certain candidates inside polling places!
I already got in a loud verbal altercation at my polling place with someone because they made a scene about not covering up their candidate (one guess as to who that candidate was).
Just because you are supporting "God's chosen candidate" does not mean you get to break the rules. We have these rules for a reason.
Thanks to my pollworkers for helping keep this confrontation merely verbal and for having a good sense of humor on a difficult day
Does that mean I can't wear my "Cheney 08" shirt?
I tell ya, though. I've got half a mind to call the No on 8 people and tell them to quit it with the Bill Clinton robocalls. I've got like 3 so far and I want to tell them that, "you know, I haven't voted yet."
If people can't afford to wait in line, or have other obligations, they can register for an absentee ballot. It's not that hard. I want everyone to vote (well, not that lady who said Obama was going to put a star and crescent on the flag, she can stay home), but damn, if people are going to whine about standing in line, then for christ's sake, VOTE ABSENTEE!
SFBS:
"I must say it seems like some of the poll workers just showed up that morning for the first time."
Probably because they did show up that morning for the first time. If you're not happy with the --VOLUNTEERS-- at the polling location, I'm sure they're accepting applications.
Meantime, I'm with bluecanary Vote absentee. No line. It's free. It's fast. What's the problem?
It's 100 feet on the no politicking rule? Damn, who do I go complain to? There was some asshat politicking maybe 20 feet away from my polling place today. I seriously, deeply, vindictively want to get him in trouble. I don't even know who or what he was pushing for or against, but this isn't acceptable.
I had basically no wait and there were empty booths when I went this afternoon. Then again, my polling place (precinct 2761, someone's garage at Alemany & Ramsell) is basically in the middle of nowhere at the extreme south-west of the city. Still, it was busier than usual. Normally I'm the only person there other than the volunteers while this time there were a couple of other people there.
If there are no ballots, just ask to use the EDGE (touchscreen) machine, available at all SF precincts. This will be slow, but you will be able to vote. And due to Debra Barnes' diligence, and the incredible effort the SF Dept of Elections has gone to, I'm pretty confident as a previous poll inspector that it's secure. In fact, the training emphasizes setting up these machines properly.
Poll workers are not volunteers, they're paid a paltry $170 dollars for their 15 hour day (meeting at 6 am to set up a polling place, and breaking up at 9pm or later), in addition to 2 hours training. Yes, clerks and inspectors are trained.
As for additional ballots, you do have to wait for a field person to drop more ballots off, but the inspector should be on top of it to order more in the first place. However, having been an inspector for the February and June primaries, this is an *incredibly* stressful and panic-inducing situation, particularly at opening. Since the introduction of touch screen machines (required for accessibility reasons for blind and otherwise handicapped voters), 4 people have to set up two machines, inspect seals, countersign, and get the polling place otherwise ready for voting. Then, if you have a large line at opening, you have to make sure that you handle the large group of voters. Then, if you're lucky, you'll have a chance to breathe, call in to your field person, and request more ballots, if necessary.
The only reason I'm not working this election as a poll worker is that I chose to work on the No on 8 campaign, where I had a suburban precinct inspector refuse to let me see the street index of who had voted already. Grrrr.
I voted for McCain/Palin and YES on 8. Twice.
Just fuckin with ya!
I voted two weeks ago. Tonight the long Dubya nightmare/hangover from 2000 ends.
Let's party!
GO OBAMA!!!
OMG you are so right. Those whiney poor people should just vote absentee. You know, poor people tend to move residence more than rich people. I'm sure that keeping the Secretary of State's office updated on their most recent address is the most important thing on their mind every time they move.
It's not ok to screw around with the vote. Why weren't those 60 people in the Mission told they could use the touch screen voting machine this morning? They were told to "come back later, we're not sure when." I know for a fact some of those people have to work past 8pm tonight. They were effectively disenfranchised because SOMEONE didnt' do their job.
Sorry to remind you that some things ARE worth getting upset about. Now back to the snappy one-liners and general dismissal of all things unhip.
So I guess you're going with the "stamp your feet and bitch loudly" tactic. Good luck with that!
I agree it's worth getting upset about, but if it's worth getting upset about, it's worth keeping your voter registration current.
This is one of those things that's wrong with this country. If it isn't easy, if it takes more than five minutes, if it takes some actual effort, everyone wants to cry, whine and blame everyone else for their own lazy/inattentiveness.
People stood for five hours in the blazing friggin African sun to vote for Nelson Mandela. People in other countries are killed trying to exercise their right to vote.
But here, because someone can't be bothered to log onto a computer (and they're free in plenty of places) and take five minutes to update their voter registration, then suddenly it's class warfare.
My mom raised three kids alone, juggling a job while getting herself a college education, and she never missed an election EVER, and that was way before the internet and absentee voter registration, so quit fucking whining.
There's nothing wrong with these people's voter registration. They are registered to vote where they currently live. They foolishly didn't realize that their polling place would run out of ballots at 10am and not know if and when there would be more coming. They didn't realize they could vote on the touch screen machine thang because nobody bothered to tell them. They were told to "come back later."
But, hey, who wants to be a whiner. On the totally important front, the white guy who told the hispanic voters to "come back later" was wearing fabulous shoes and what looked like a DIY hand knitted scarf, so not everything was bad.
You are the person that anyone who has spent a hot minute doing any customer service job in their lives knows very well. You'll stand there and complain about the Grave Injustice Of It All and when presented with multiple alternatives to get what you need, you'll start complaining even louder. Eventually you'll spend more time complaining than you would to have done the alternative thing that would have given you what you wanted.
To quote bluecanary, quit fucking whining.
@Samsez:
Am I insane? Did you not write the following:
"You know, poor people tend to move residence more than rich people. I'm sure that keeping the Secretary of State's office updated on their most recent address is the most important thing on their mind every time they move."
But if you now want to complain about a lack of ballots, again, I say to you, sir: VOTE ABSENTEE.
Or you know, continue to come up with excuses.
I can't speak to your relative level of sanity.
You can register to vote at almost any streetcorner or at any streetfair in the summer in San Francisco. That is not the same as requesting an absentee ballot.
You have to request an absentee ballot in advance. The people in line this morning did not know in advance that their voting place would run out of ballots. Unfortunately, they did not have your apparent gift of clairvoyance. Nor did they have all day to hang out and "just relax" as was suggested in the original blog post here.
Are we ok now?
@ dantsea: There's a difference between your right to vote and your right to perfect amount of foam on your vente latte.
I actually have done customer service and I'm also not the type of customer who stamps their foot and bitches. However, when I see someone not vote who really wanted to vote just because of the poor training or poor planning of a government employee, then yes, I consider that a bitchable offense.
They could request an absentee ballot in advance and not have to take any risk of getting fired from their third job because they got stuck in line to vote.
Yes, they could request an absentee ballot next time. OR San Francisco Dept of Elections could make sure that no location comes even close to running out of ballots at 10am.
Or both.
Doesn't matter kids. Obama won. See ya in 4 years.
OBAMA!!!!!!!!!!!
Awesome beyond words.
Still every vote should count. Let's get it perfect next time. :-)
btw...looks like 8 is going to pass. bummer.
Butt, it also looks like we collectively shoved it up UTAH's highly invasive, negro & gay hatin' asses by electing the black dude. They went gay hatin' and dolled up for McCain and the dumb T&A chick he chose - - - whatsherwhitetrashnameagain???
You know, not many blacks or gays up there in Utah - or Alaska.
Fucking Mor /m/ ons
Yes, I just invented that and now it is for all to share.
I cannot stand Mormons and the vast majority will never even get the joke.
If they don't get basic civil rights they'll never understand the concept of HTML tagging.