This project turned out to be surprisingly easy, particularly since it seems that volunteers in my county are actively sought. I think one of the largest drawbacks for getting volunteers is that it would require younger members of the electorate to take an entire day off work -- who wants to use up a vacation day to participate in the election process? Um, me.
My first opportunity was the primary held on June 8th, 2010 which for my precinct had two major races: the Republican selection for the gubernatorial candidate and the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Charles Grassley.
Some random comments about my experience:
- Found it quite interesting (and gratifying) to find out that US election rules require precinct election officials (PEOs) to have training before each election. I found that the two most important items were that (1) no person can be turned away if they insist on voting -- there's always the option to cast a provisional ballot which can be reviewed later by the county auditor's office and (2) once a ballot is in the hands of the voter, a PEO must avoid looking at or even touching it to preserve the privacy and validity of the vote.
- The other PEOs were fun to work with, especially over the long day. We were at the site at 6am and left about 10pm.
- The election computer application was a new feature for a primary/general election. I'm not sure how the precinct workers were able to effectively work through complicated registrations and check enrollment in the past.
The program was apparently designed by programmers in Cerro Gordo county and was built with every possible scenario. This was key since we actually had virtually every scenario at our polling place: inactive voter where we needed to validate residency, new voter registration, address changes, name changes, wrong polling locations, voter living in a car, etc. Each situation was presented step-by-step to ensure that the proper procedures were followed, the right documentation was received and recorded, and that the voter him/herself was respected throughout. The only situation that did not occur at our site was a convicted felon who had lost his/her voting rights.
Associated with the computer program was a labeler which printed out the required information which could be attached the various forms (voter registration, voter attestation, etc.) for record keeping and so that the voter did not have to write out the information themselves. Very slick.
- Poll watchers -- this was a new concept for me, one which seemed a little...um...questionable in some of their possible roles, but apparently normal and legal.
So apparently poll watchers can be appointed by a party or candidate to observe the election process (OK), challenge a voter's qualifications (OK), and look at eligibility slips and write down names of people who have or have not voted (Hmmm). They can't interfere, provide candidate information, touch ballots, etc, which makes sense.
As described to me, in our county, especially in the more rural areas for close elections, these poll watchers may want to get-out-the-vote for close elections.
A new feature enabled by the computers this year was the ability for the county auditor to collect counts of registered voters who had and had not voted via a thumb-drive at each polling place (securely) and then provide that information to the poll workers back at the county auditor's office. Providing this information in this fashion would limit the amount of "annoyance factor" of the poll watcher (who could legally be there) and, in fact, they wouldn't need to be at the polling place at all, unless challenges or general observation was required.
- It was amazing to me how many voters were registering to vote that day, had name changes, had just moved into the precinct, or had moved within the precinct.
- I was surprised that several people really didn't understand the concept of the primary. Yes, you only get a ballot for the party you declared. Yes, you can declare a different party on the day of the primary. No, you can't vote for both Republican and Democratic candidates on the same ballot.
- I was extremely disappointed in my precinct's turnout. Only 234 registered voters out of approximately 3,300 voted. Sigh.
I plan to work the general election in the fall. Look forward to seeing the turnout.