Ever worked at the polls? Got any stories?

[Bertha Venation]

NightTrain's "My infuriating encounter with an elderly fascist" thread made me think of two similar occurrences, both of which happened when I worked at the polls.

The first was in June, 1984 -- the California primary. That year the primary fell on the 40th anniversary of the invasion at Normandy. An elderly gentleman came in to cast his vote, but he wasn't registered in that precinct, so we could only allow him to cast a provisional ballot. We suggested it would be better if he called the Registrar's office to find out his true polling place, but he insisted that this was where he had voted for the last twenty years (unlikely since this was only the third time we'd used this particular clubhouse in this particular tract). He was getting quite belligerent, and he said "I was on the shores of Normandy forty years ago today and now you won't let me vote! It's just like Communism!" I was just dumbfounded. I just stood there staring at him -- I couldn't help myself. I was only 21 years old and knew very little about politics but I knew this guy was off his nut, comparing voter registration law to Communism (not to mention deriding Communism itself).

The other happened six years later. I was the only woman on a crew at a VFW hall, and the youngest person by about forty years. The men continually talked about politics, which is strictly forbidden at a polling place (at least in Orange Co., CA, at that time). As the inspector (leader of the crew) I warned them five times before lunch that they were not to discuss the candidates or the issues in this election. At first they tried to whisper. Then they said "all right, we'll shut up when people are in here voting, but you can't make us be quiet when no one is voting." I said "Actually, I can," and showed them in my manual where it said "NO political discussions at any time." They didn't like that, not one little bit. Eventually the three of them started ignoring me and doing their own thing. :shrug: It was the quietest day I'd ever had working the polls. I turned in my report along w/ my materials at the end of the night, and never heard a word about it.

Have you ever worked at the polls, performing that civic duty for the pittance, the experience, for the service of your community? Was it a good experience or bad? Did the hall where you were have bathrooms? Did the host family in whose garage you worked feed you coffee & donuts? Get into a fistfight over anything? How much electioneering crap did you have to remove, and how often?! Spill, spill, spill!

[sinkingfeeling]

1. Yes, I worked at a voting place in Minnesota back in 1987...

but I don't have any stories to tell. Of course, I think things were much more 'civilized' back then.

[ret5hd]

2. my funniest story...

tx primary election a few months ago, my wife and i running the democratic side...

we were situated across a small auditorium (elementary school) from the repug primaries. an obviously lower middle class woman entered, went to the opposite side of the room, signed the register to vote in the repug primaries. her cell phone rang. she answered, listened a few seconds, then exclaimed "I'm fired? Why? You're kidding, right? I'm fired?" she was obviously very distraught, BUT STILL VOTED IN THE REPUG PRIMARIES!

I just don't get some people.

[blackcat77]

3. Way back in 1970, I was a college freshman at IU...

...and the Democrats gathered a group of us to work the polls in Indianapolis for Vance Hartke, who was running against Nixon favourite Dick Roudebush. There were about 15 of us all packed into a VW microbus and whenever we'd come to a hill, we'd have to get out and walk up because the bus couldn't make it with all that weight.

Once we got to Indy, we all slept on the floor at Hartke HQ and then went out the next day passing out literature. While I was gone, somebody stole the leather coat I brought with me.

The next day was the election and I got my first direct lesson in politics. I was a poll watcher at a precinct that was about 98% black and of course it was also about 98% Democrat. Every single voter that came in was challenged by the Republicans which necessitated about a 5 minute wait per voter while he was checked out.

But the Democrats would try to sneak people by the station where the party workers checked people. Sometimes they got away with it, sometimes not. But it got really ugly by late afternoon and things almost came to blows...

In the end, Hartke won the election, Roudebush went back to Washington and that night we all smoked a lot of dope on the way back to Bloomington. A good time was had by all.

[Bertha Venation]

4. People challenged the voters?

As in, "Hey, you're not really registered!" ??? I know this went on, but jesus . . . it still blows me away.

[liberalhistorian]

5. Yes, the repukes are famous for that,

especially in predominantly black and Democratic precincts (Florida in 1998 and 2000, anyone?) SUPCO Chief Justice William Rehnquist himself harassed black voters at the begining of the civil rights movement.

And he also made the brilliant comment in one of his opinions prior to being named to the SUPCO that "it's time to recognize that whites in the South really don't like black people all that much and they have the right not to."