Observations of an Ohio12 Poll Worker... [View all]
Very long day. Hotter, mostly sunny, but not oppressive weather.
My “report” from an extremely gerrymandered, small, half-old-established families- rural/half new wealthy white yuppy, Franklin County precinct constituency.
I’m going to stay as flat line unemotional as possible (as poll workers everywhere are trained and expected to be!) We are workers who simply do the job. Civility. Follow the well written rules explicitly, professional demeanor insisted upon. No drama. No mention of politics with voters. No candidates signs, pins, posters anywhere. We are paid for our day’s work and the training leading up to the elections.
Solidly equal, bipartisan participation. Purposefully.
OK. This is a small precinct. Heavily gerrymandered, as are many Franklin County precincts. The craziness of the political lines in Columbus are head-rattling. I don't live in this Franklin CountyPrecinct but in a similarly gerrymandered precinct that borders this area. I, like most of my other poll workers, was not voting in this election due to the crazily established precinct lines. Many people in the different counties were still confused about IF they even could vote. It varied house by house, street by street. So here goes:
Hugely Republican Red precinct. Voters mostly Old Republican generational white rural families and working white country-dwelling yuppies but with small patches of older, educated/sophisticated hippy liberals (especially women) and a smattering of fresh young voters (again, mostly female that showed up) and a few minority citizens mixed in.
As per Board of Election rules, three times during the day public lists printed from the actual roster machines are clearly posted with the names of who has voted (never HOW they voted), number of votes already cast and a percentage of the registered voters in the precinct who are voting.
The final, actual numerical results of votes for all the candidates are posted publicly at the end of the day.
No expectations of a Blue win here. None.
The figures: all public. At the end of the day, in person on site votes for O’Conner were tallied at almost exactly 1/3 of all votes cast. 2/3 went to the opposition.
(Three names on the ballot. Green Party received literally just a handful of total votes.)
Voting percentage of registered precinct voters was 34%
( it was 18% in the primary in May) predictions for the OH12 election had been 30%.
All records and numbers are cross checked and documented many given times during the day with bipartisan oversite.
Of my fellow poll workers, 75% were women. Vast majority over 55. (As per rules 50/50 bipartisan workers participated at every precinct).
The voters came in small, but fairly constant numbers throughout the day. No big lines or waiting. Easily could get in and out in a few minutes.
All voters were required to have a current, verifiable ID. Period. The qualifications and rules are printed in booklets at all roster tables.
No verifiable ID, no voting ballot for the machine. Options for qualified provisional voting, on site at every precinct.
Every voter is required to show their unexpired ID, then state their name and once electronically scanned or entered into the polling files, state their current address.
Personal behind the scenes Observations: This is a friendly group of conscientious, supportive poll workers. Lot’s of children/grandchildren bragging among the personal conversations. Good cooperative group. We’ve worked together before at other elections and probably all will return for the midterms to work the same precinct.
Not ONCE in a 15 hour work day, in quiet, private conversations among us did I hear anyone supportive of the Cretin. Just the opposite. A few Republicans were repulsed by what had become of their party. Some had voted for Clinton.
Of all the Voters, most were courteous and pleasant and friendly. Not a lot of random chit chat because of the serious reason they were in the room. None were there very long. Simple ballot.
There was, however, a certain “type” we all instantly recognized. We had a dozen of them throughout the day. Chip on their shoulder, swaggering, almost sneering attitude and making a snarky comment about how many illegal immigrants we were allowing to vote, Russia quips or getting pissy when asked to state their names again after handing us the legal ID.
All older white males... by coincidence I am sure.
One memorable voter, a rounded bellied, long bearded, older white male in a white t-shirt and jeans, complete with a big silver NRA belt buckle (no lie!), wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses and fist on hip, planted himself in front of the roster table, blocking the next voter, literally tossing his drivers license at us. The aura all around him reeked of “bully creep”. Instantly in our face.
Asked to state his name, he snarled “it’s on the license”. Calm Smiling Reply...”It is the rule in Order to vote. Please state your name”
After a heavy, damning pause, he gave it with even more attitude and eventually getting his printed ballot ticket literally stomped over to the line of voting machines.
Shake our heads, small eye rolls. No audible comments. Breathe. Next voter, PLEASE. Thank-you.
No one was impressed. He had a definitive ugliness emanating around him.
This is a good example of what we are fighting against daily, not just at the polls.
End of the day thoughts: Borderline depressing result, though not at all a surprise in that particular precinct. More turnout is always a plus. Just too many are still doing nothing. Very “Close” still sucks if the final provisional and absentee ballots give us a loss...until November. This is a long, wearying battle. We did our job. Now, we still wait. We still grasp for little wins, holding on to hope.
I’ll take Wednesday to reconnect with some simple joys, try to avoid anything with the GD foul Cretins puke inducing vile name, hideous scowling degenerate face, wretched reeking soul, repulsive gut twisting repugnant voice or ignorant, bile raising, bilious BS attached. There will be plenty of it.
Damn, I really abhor this. I can’t respect people who still support this treasonous, corruption-riddled, soulless, graceless, calculatingly evil, anti-humanity, putrid, domestic and foreign terrorist enemy that has infected our country.
Oooppp, I got a tad emotional.
RESIST, REFUSE, REVOLT
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