It is Preliminary Day (aka a ‘nonpartisan primary’) in my town! By the time this diary posts at 10pm Eastern, we’ll know which two of the five candidates running for Mayor advance to the general election in November. It’s been a good campaign both by my preferred candidate as well as the others… a total of four Democrats and one Republican vying for the nonpartisan seat that hasn’t been open in 18 years.
I’ve been volunteering with my candidate, all summer as a Call Time Manager and today as a general election day helper. One of my tasks today, besides an early morning lit drop, sign holding, and eventually result-observer after the polls close, has been to hit up every voting place every few hours and get vote totals. Basically, I go in (sans any identifying candidate material, but I am wearing my Netroots Nation/DailyKos T-shirt because what else do you wear on days like this?! :)) and check the total votes readout on the machines that scan our paper ballots, then report it to HQ so they can [this is above my volunteer pay grade] with the data.
What happened in one voting place surprised me. Grab a beverage… at this point I’m going with either a vodka and RockStar, or alcohol-laced coffee, because I’ve been up and running since 5am on five hours sleep… take a look at how you can help keep Top Comments a vibrant daily diary series, and join me below the story break!
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I went into one of our eight polling places and asked the nice people manning the check-in table where the Warden was, because I’d been told that we have to ask the Warden if we can look at the machine or will they read us the number. They are required to give us the information, but how they do so is up to them; also being nice to the Warden and all the poll workers just seems like a good idea. I’d met this Warden back when we had a property tax override and I was an election observer and knew he was a nice guy. Of course he said yes, and I went and got my number.
When I walked past his table and said thank you, he said “You’re welcome. Hey, so who are you supporting?” I stood there gaping like a fish for a moment, because one of the things I remember from Very Early On in my learning about Civics is that NO ONE has the right to ask who you voted for, *especially* in the voting space where advocating for a candidate is strictly forbidden and especially the person in charge of the whole room.
“Umm… well… I don’t have to tell you that, and I’m pretty sure I shouldnt since I can’t advocate for my candidate IN HERE” I replied nervously. At which point he realized I was pretty freaked out and said he was just curious, it’s ok, yadda yadda. I mumbled something about it’s ok, I’m just trying to not run afoul of election law, etc, and left. Six hours later I’m still freaked out.
Am I wrong in thinking that the freeking Site Warden should know better than to ASK SOMEONE IN THE POLLING PLACE WHO THEY VOTED FOR?! Idle curiosity or not, if I’d responded and someone in the room heard me… or if the Warden had replied to my theoretical answer and anyone heard them… it would have looked like a biased room and potentially caused an issue. Heck, when I was poll observing I wasn’t even allowed to SPEAK to anyone but the Warden, not even to say hi to friends and neighbors or explain what I was doing there.
Yes, I know this was a small local election but it seems to me that free, fair elections matter whether large or small. I may have come off looking like a bitchy curmudgeon, but principle matters.
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From Kluger2:
Profiles in courage!
Fact checking the boss man, in his own diary, is this comment by Mallie.
From joniworx:
Is this fine pictorial comment from dmhlt 66. (Ed. note: Please don’t miss this.)
Highlighted by chaboard:
Is this comment by Black Max about the staggering lack of integrity and principle demonstrated by Senate Republicans.
TOP MOJO
Top Mojo for yesterday, September 16th, 2019, with first comments and tip jars excluded. Thank you mik for the mojo magic! For those of you interested in How Top Mojo Works, please see his diary on FAQing Top Mojo.
TOP PICTURES
Top Pictures for September 17, 2019! Thanks so much, jotter!