I had a final rush of registrations at my little table at the Silver Spring, MD Metro station as we reached the last day to register to vote in MD, October 14. Almost everyone was grateful that I was there, but there was one small incident that really made my blood boil!
I have been registering voters at Metro stops near my house in suburban Maryland for the last few weeks. Maryland will go overwhelmingly for Obama, but I have been taking the long view to party build and to capitalize on the enthusiasm that we have seen in the electorate. I have seen the impact of the allegations of registration fraud, as well. I have become a resource to anyone with a question about voting while I man my table as well.
I originally signed up as the part of a greater effort in my area that has had a number of volunteers stationed to register voters during the evening rush hour at Metro stops. Sometimes there was more than one of us, other times, it was just me. I would learn something each time, so I made sure that I had extra paper, absentee ballot applications and pieces of paper that I printed up with the phone number of the board of elections and the web site one can use to check the status of his or her registration. One night I took my laptop, hoping that I could find a Wifi signal so that we could look up registrations on the spot, but no dice. I was very busy the two hours or so that I was there each night, but I wanted to do whatever I could to help people register.
The people who registered included many who had moved, from in-state and out-of-state as well as new registrants. Some people thought they were registered, but had not received anything in the mail. Many people had said that they had registered at motor vehicles, but had never received an acknowledgment in the mail. I didn't want people to apply to register more than once, but I also didn't want to discourage anyone in any way. I had no way to confirm whether they were registered and during the last couple of days, there wasn't time for them to call to confirm. Last night one woman did call while she was standing with me and confirmed that she was registered.
The last day of registration was particularly hectic. I had printed 30 applications, as the most that I had ever used in an evening was about 25. About half way into my three hour effort, I ran out of applications! Luckily there was an office supply store a few blocks away, so I could run up and make another 30 applications!
I did have a couple of unsettling incidents that highlight the effect that the Republicans have been having with their alleged registration fraud allegations. Last week one person asked me who I was working for? I told him that I was helping the local Democratic party. He made a comment, about hearing about illegal registrations. On Monday I registered one woman and she asked if I had any ID from the organization I was working for? I told her that I did not, that I was just a volunteer. She then asked for her application back and said that she would mail it in. I didn't feel great about that, but she had to do what was most comfortable for her. The most unsettling incident occurred last night, when a guy came up and wanted to see the application. He looked at it and then crumpled it up and threw it at me and said, "illegal!" I told him that it was indeed legal. There were others registering at the time and I wanted to slug the guy, but that would not have helped anyone very much, so I just tried to calm myself down.
I have spent ten to fifteen hours over the last few weeks registering voters at the Metro stops. I have downloaded the registration form and made copies at my own expense. I bought some poster board and made my own sign so that I was more visible. Although I have loosely worked for the county Democratic party, I essentially was working for myself, registering all who came up. I did not encourage anyone to register for any party. I know many signed up as "unaffiliated" and I had at least one Republican. To me it didn't matter. I was there to get more people to participate in the democratic process.
I quickly came to the conclusion that it is too difficult to register to vote. There is much confusion about voter registration. Some people believed that they needed to re-register. Many people did not know the status of their registration or were worried whether they were registered. There must be a better way.
The county board of elections was very busy when I dropped the applications off last night. Many people were there to register in person at the last minute. The office was open until 9:00 p.m. All the election board workers were cheerful and helpful. Someone was there to familiarize prospective voters with the voting machines and to help those who spoke Spanish.
All-in-all, a very gratifying and worthwhile effort. In my rough tally, I have registered over 100 voters over the last few weeks. I got 60 registrations in the last two days!