Voter Rolls
Posted 2 Nov 2004 by inkblotwe've got a couple of places to discuss the candidates. let's discuss the mechanics.
today's the day. how'd it go? what are your reflections on the lines, the challengers, the ballots, the predictions, and all else electoral? paper or electronic? five minutes or two hours?
3rd ward, 2nd precinct, ann arbor michigan, posted 2 Nov 2004 by inkblot »
i live about a block away from the the university of michigan central campus, in ann arbor michigan. to get an idea of the way the university dominates the city, and in particular my neighborhood, bear in mind that central campus is about a dozen blocks square, and the student body represents about a third of the city's population.it's a very liberal town, and i mean that in the old school anti-establishment pro-reform way, and not the new school be sensitive to everything and everyone way. candidates from the socialist party have made strong showings in past mayoral races, including one race between a democrat and a socialist with no other parties on the ballot. aapd is under order not to arrest people for possession of marijuana. the city operates the nation's (world's?) only revenue-generating recycling program.
so when i went to vote this morning before work, i had a few expections about what i'd see. first, a huge turnout consisting of a lot of young people younger than me, voting in their first presidential election. second, i'd see an efficient modern process at work for getting people through the polls. and third, i'd see numerous dogged registration challenges by party goons.
central ann arbor, including central campus, consists of about a half dozen tiny, tiny precincts... in some cases just a few blocks by a few blocks. mine was 3rd ward, 2nd precinct. i didn't know this before i went to look for my polling place this morning, so when i got to the wrong one (the michigan union) i didn't realize that not only were there two lines for two different precincts, but that neither of them was for mine. i got to the head of the line where they directed me to the right place (east quad). both of these polling places are within a five minute walk of my apartment, so going to the wrong place wasn't a big deal. waiting in the wrong line was, however. i started my trek at about 7:40 and finally fed the tally machine at 9:18.
i heard from poll workers and people outside the polling place that there were challengers from both the democratic and republican parties present. i can't attest to that because if there were, they were awefully quiet. that surprises me, as i would have expected the republican party to station some of its finest at what is almost entirely an all-student, all-first-time-voter precinct in the berkeley of the midwest.
both places used a scantron-style paper ballot which the voter marks up and then feeds into a machine the electronically reads the marks. it's the same style of ballot i've used for years when i was registered at my parents' address. it lacks chads, so it does have that advantage over other card-reading systems, and with the black fine-tip markers they had to mark with, it'd be very difficult to make a partial mark. the creme of good old reliable paper ballot technology as far as i'm concerned, but certainly no state-of-the-art, for whatever state-of-the-art is really worth.
just a minute, posted 2 Nov 2004 by neoacerbitas »
my polling place only takes votes from the 1400 or so people in the district/precinct/ whatever. So it was easy for me, just a couple minutes, though the lady that gave me the ballot asked me if i was my dad, even though i could plainly see that it said "requested absentee ballot" next to his name. Yeah, we have a connect the arrow type ballot, so unless you could draw a moderately straight line i don't think there will be any problems around here.voted at np cov, posted 3 Nov 2004 by pedro »
...because my card still has that neighborhood on it. There was probably a 15 minute wait or so... not too bad. THere was this cute old lady in a pumpkin orange coat and tam teaching all the college students how to punch the little things. She was cute, and it was fun seeing the students excited about voting in their first election. That's about it!That election judge, posted 3 Nov 2004 by lieutenant »
pedro, is apparently a neighborhood legend. Several sem profs have served as election judges at NP Cov and said it's worth it just to see what she'll wear or do on election night.In other news, the wife and I were thisclose to being disputed absentee PA voters....
lieu, posted 3 Nov 2004 by pedro »
I'm not surprised... she was definitely going all out. Old Chicago Ladies know how to go all out better than any others that I've ever known.