Primary Day is finally here. Get out there and vote for Gustavo Rivera. Be vigilant and make sure that your vote counts with the new machines...If you don't understand how to use them, ASK FOR HELP. If the person who comes over to help you doesn't know what he/she is doing, ASK SOMEONE ELSE FOR HELP. That is unless you're voting for Espada...in that case there's no need to be so assertive about making sure your vote is cast correctly. Ha!Some updates from the field from BD Readers...
- It still amazes me that our most important Democratic process is entrusted to such unimpressive (and untrained!) poll workers. They were just opening when I got here at 6:40am, even though polls officially open at 6am. I was voter #1. I took me a few different tries to find an English speaking poll worker for help. Connie Espada was there just hanging out.
- From a Facebook status update: "BD Reader" just voted, and HOPES it counted... poll workers aren't trained, and new machines are giving error messages.
~ErLu
8 comments:
I've never had any problems at our voting location (St. Brendan's). It's always been smooth and quick -- probably too quick thanks to low turnout.
I was concerned about the new voting machines, but that also went very smoothly. Everyone was very helpful.
@ GLB:
Good to hear. Hopefully all the polls are as organized as yours was!
I vote at PS 8 and it's usually empty and therefore quick, but the workers aren't the sharpest tools in the shed (or maybe just not trained properly) and are easily confused. Heading over this afternoon and hopefully it will be smooth sailing.
I do imagine that there is a varying level of organization, knowledge, experience, and language skills between different poll locations. I don't know much about the training or selection process, but staffers are almost always going to be folks who don't have regular working hour-type jobs. Unless we start making election and primary days holidays, this will continue to be the case.
It kind of bothers me that there is no notification that Dan Padernacht has stepped down. His name is on the ballot and I am afraid people might vote for him anyway thus wasting votes.
They need an English speaking person at each table. I was told I was not registered. They were looking in the book for my FIRST name. Only when I asked to see the book did I discover the error.
I voted in Manhattan around 6:45. The new way is kind of simple, but it was not explained to me well. There was no line so I got out quickly, but I wondered what would happen in an election that had a large crowd. Hope the situation improves.
I just got back from voting at St. Brendan's. It was exciting; of course, there are huge signs of Espada's mug on telephone poles everywhere. I tore these down and got in trouble (they yelled at me - big whoop) by Espada people. There is also some Rivera signage (small mailers stapled to telephone poles) on public property (this is illegal!). I tore those signs down, too. The one Rivera volunteer working outside of St. Brendan's thanked me and asked me to go tear down any other Rivera signs. I then approached the Espada people (there are twelve Espada people at St. Brendan's) to help me tear down signs, and one told me "You are right, but I won't volunteer [to help you take down signs]." Thanks people!
If my beloved, neighborhood park is a mess with political signs (from either side), there will be some anger letters. Grrrrrrrr! For god's sake, educate your campaign volunteers!
Lis, I agree with you re: campaign literature turning into litter. There were campaign voluteers all around my polling location (PS 80) and there were certainly a lot of campaign flyers littering the ground. I'm just annoyed that in their downtime (which it looked to me like there was a lot of), they don't just go up and down the block they're on to pick up the litter.
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