When my husband and I voted in northeast Ohio in the '04 presidential election, we waited in line--outside in the rain--for 4 1/2 hours to vote! If our young children hadn't been in school that day, we wouldn't have been able to vote. We've seen what a bad case scenario can look like on Election Day. (Especially when aided and abetted by then-Ohio Sec'y of State, GOP Ken Blackwell, who was hell-bent on supporting Bush and suppressing the Ohio Dem vote, but that's another diary entry.)
At the risk of sounding like a Chicken Little--but informed by my trying, 4 1/2-hour marathon experience at the polls 4 years ago--here are some suggestions for helping things go better this time.
We now live in central Virginia, where the Commonwealth's Board of Elections is predicting a large turnout on Election Day. In our town (in "real" Virginia, LOL!), the public schools are cancelled on Election Day, a potential further complication for parents who wish to vote, and now must either find child care or wait with their kids in what might be long lines. My husband and I have already voted ("Absentee, In-Person" --VA does not officially have "early voting"), since he and I will be volunteering all day on Election Day.
The precinct where we'll be volunteering has greatly increased voter registration, especially among African-Americans, working-class folks and new voters who make up a big portion of the precinct. As we've canvassed in the precinct, many folks identified in our turf files as "sporadic" or "new" voters have indicated that they plan on turning up to vote. Therefore, our "comfort team" volunteers wants to be prepared for what could possibly be some long lines at the polls on Election Day.
I will update as I gather more information. (This is not a list re: poll watchers and legal help -- another important part of our ED effort.) Each precinct "comfort team" should make sure they've got:
- Portable plastic chairs and lawnchairs -- esp. for elderly folks, so that they can remain comfortable if there are long lines with long waits.
- Childcare team: 2 shifts of several volunteers who can entertain kids, especially in the afternoon: 1-4 p.m. & 4-7 p.m. Bring face paints, children's books, crayons and paper, sidewalk chalk, perhaps even a portable DVD player with cartoons, to entertain kids as they wait in line with their parents. Our polling place is in a community building at a park. Plan ahead: Contact the parks service office (or whatever office controls access to rooms in your precinct building) and ask if one room can be opened for volunteers who'll be reading children's books and doing other activities with kids while parent wait in line.
- Food & water: Crackers, individually-wrapped cheese sticks and granola bars, bottled water to distribute to voters in the afternoon hours, 4-7 p.m., if there are long lines. (In Ohio in '04, some compassionate college kids started handing out crackers and bottled water to would-be voters 2 hours into our wait, and it really helped to sustain our bodies and spirits as we continued to stand in line.) This is a very nitty-gritty, but completely serious suggestion--we also might even need extra toilet paper at polling place bathrooms which might be getting a lot of use if there are long lines for much of the day.
- If the polling place has Wi-Fi, a volunteer with a laptop and wireless internet connection can help voters who want to check--before they've needlessly waited in line--to see if they are at the correct precinct.
- Someone to remind voters who've worn partisan political shirts and or buttons that they must take these off or cover them as they approach the voting station. (In VA, state law says you can't wear this stuff within 40 feet of the polls.) Hand out trash bags or loaner t-shirts and jackets to those voters who have worn partisan political garb.
- Cheap umbrellas or trashbags-as-makeshift raincoats to hand out to waiting voters if it's raining. Instruct voters to give these umbrellas or trash bags to others as they exit the polls. If only we'd had enough umbrellas or trash bags 4 years ago in Ohio!