Wisconsin
Related: About this forumWisconsin: A worried poll worker speaks: Wisconsin elections in trouble
http://uppitywis.org/blogarticle/worried-poll-worker-speaks-wisconsin-elections-troubleSome municipalities have conducted tests of new voting procedures and have forecast serious problems on election day. I had great difficulty paring this to four paragraphs. Recommend you read all the comments from this "retired Wisconsin citizen who has long served as a local election worker".
"But the barriers to voting won't end there. You see, the state has produced scads more paperwork that we election workers will now be expected to fill out when, for instance, a provisional ballot is issued. Just to handle one ballot, we might have to fill out half a dozen forms, and do it right away during election hours. This new slew of red-tape requirements will slow us down enormously. And that will slow down voting.
"Election commssions are in many cases planning to add additional poll workers in anticipation of such delays, but there's also the confusion of all these new requirements. And the state -- along with partisan poll watchers -- is going to be looking much more closely at every little thing that happens. If the poll workers don't do their jobs perfectly, people are going to ask questions, but already burdened poll workers are being buried under new rules and procedures that will complicate their already detail-oriented duties.
"The voters, too, are going to be confused. In our municipality, voters have been used to coming to the table and giving their address. Now they're expected to first give their name and show that ID for inspection. That's going to cause more delay as everyone gets used to the new system. Fewer people will be get through the lines to vote, even including some people who have all the proper ID, because there's more to do to approve each voter before handing out a ballot.
"The bottom line is that, in a supposed effort to protect against virtually non-existent fraud, Voter ID is really only going to protect against thousands of registered, and legitimate but unregistered, citizens from voting in Wisconsin.
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IamK
(956 posts)"The voters, too, are going to be confused. In our municipality, voters have been used to coming to the table and giving their address. Now they're expected to first give their name and show that ID for inspection.
What would they do if they get pulled over on the way to vote and a cop asked them for their diver's license? I would like to think most people could navigate through the maze of getting their id out of their wallet or purse...
Jackpine Radical
(45,274 posts)"And getting that proof will be harder than most people realize. For instance, if you've never driven a motor vehicle in your life, you might actually find it easier to prove your identity than if you once had a driver's license but no longer do. That's because, for reasons that make no sense to me, the state has decided that if you ever had a driver's license, even many years ago, you will have to produce information from that license including the license number in order to establish your identity. It doesn't matter if you don't have the license any more, or that you have other valid ID. It doesn't matter that you are very unlikely to have written down the information from that license. You'll have to go to the DMV and get a copy.
"But the DMV is running way behind on fulfilling requests for this kind of information. In fact, it may surprise you to know that the records of old driver's licenses are not fully computerized, so if you go to DMV and request old license information, and you're lucky to be first in line, it still could take weeks for someone to dig through old paper records and supply you with the required information.
"If you're in this situation and haven't already made your request, you may not be able to vote this spring. And even if you did make the request, you still aren't assured of being given a ballot."
sybylla
(8,512 posts)They can't imagine living in a city where a car is a needless expense or more hassle than it's worth when there's good public transportation. They can't imagine what it's like to be a senior citizen who hasn't driven a car in 10 years. Or to be disabled, living on disability, with little to no title to anything of value to prove residency or even any money to purchase ID let alone any place to use it.
All of which might not be so bad if the GOPpies hadn't restricted which forms of ID they would accept to the point that it strips so many people of their rights.
The ignorance hurts.
midnight
(26,624 posts)
ProfessionalLeftist
(4,982 posts)That's exactly what these laws are intended to do. In 2012, nationwide, in every state where ALEC, Koch and their Repub lapdogs have enacted these laws, this will be the same issue. Including the state I'm in if the bastards have their way.
tanglefoot
(202 posts)You should have heard the veteran poll workers and clerks bitching about the new laws. It wasn't just how awful they were going to be to adminisiter. More than one thought the restrictions were ridiculous.
IamK
(956 posts)the average age of a US poll worker is 72 and US life expectancy is 76.....
tanglefoot
(202 posts)And that was all the poll workers for the entire county. Most of the older poll workers left when they started complicating things with the registration database, higher thresholds for same-day registration and electronic voting/scanning machines.
But you would know that if you actually showed up to the polls.
IamK
(956 posts)Bring an umbrella ....
