Posted on 10/20/2008 5:23:55 AM PDT by ajwharton
Today is my first day as a GOP poll watcher. We are being dispatched to the early voting locations, which are starting today. I am going to a local library for a eight hour shift. I have five shifts before Nov 5.
I have a folding chair, a pen, a stack of ready-to-go "incident reports", the state GOP hotline in my speed dial, my official poll watcher ID, sun glasses and it is raining...
Cue "Bad to the Bone"
I was thinking that I would update this thread with some fun facts (if there are any) as the election season moves on.
It looks like I am not going to be in FL for much longer (job considerations), so I am looking at this as my last gift to the Sunshine State.
Good luck. It looks like you are ready. Thank you for your service. This is very important and you are taking the responsibility very serious.
Thank you for your efforts.
Everybody - Volunteer & Donate.
Make sure we are all at local McCain HQ helping out with GOTV the weekend before the election. If you are retired - volunteer now. Ignore the polls.
Best of luck to you!
Thank you for your volunteer work. It is going to be an interesting day.
Thanks! Please update-we all are interested!
Thank you
PB COUNTY?.....YOU POOR BASTARD!..................8^)
I just signed up to poll watch in FL, myself.
Keep us posted, ajwharton.
Watch out for the hanging chads!
I was a poll watcher at the last election. Good luck. It is a tough job. TWO Democrat lawyers showed up to poll watch vs little old non-lawyer me. In Minnesota allows one poll watcher per party and I said hey, you guys would have a problem if we had two Republican poll watchers here ... so one of them agreed to go outside and “help” people outside at the sidewalk. I called the Republican number they had given me but no one ever showed up; a followup report I sent after the event got no response.
Frankly, my observation was that the election judges were doing their level best to do a good job. The Dems were really good at busing people (some wearing their bedroom slippers - which I’m thinking might be a great comfortable fashion trend) to the polls. At lunch, I ran across one of their vote recruiters actively urging people to vote - offering to vouch for them - and it was obvious the “voucher” person did not know the “vouchee.”
This year I am an election judge. It will be interesting to compare experiences.
self ping
Liveblogging from the polling place via blackberry. Sheer chaos. Two printers, just in time ballot printing and one printer breaks after 20 minutes. Poll chieftan is clearly a dmocrat and sorta hostile, but my wit wears him down. Lots of Obama voters, at least 10 to 1. There is rumor that folks are being bussed in! Obama campaign is sending folks to the early voting places to get Obama rally tickets. Clever way of “getting out the vote”. Obviously, PBC is gonna be tough for the good guys.
The other printer died. I think that riots may ensue.
Maybe the bus goes to another voting place tomorrow?
Dear Taxrelief,
Starting today, every day is Election Day in Florida.
Early voting is fast, easy, and it could make the difference in this crucial battleground state. Show your friends and family that you’ve made up your mind and you’re ready for change now.
Take the first step today. Find your Early Vote location.
Early voting is simple, safe, and convenient. It’s also a vital part of our strategy.
The more supporters who make their voices heard now, the more energy and resources we can devote to our get out the vote efforts closer to Election Day.
Early vote today and see if you can get five or more friends to early vote with you.
All across the country, supporters like you are working together to grow this movement for change. We know that Florida families can’t afford four more years of failed Bush-McCain policies.
That’s why we need you to help make sure we have an advantage in Florida before Election Day.
Take a moment now to fill out some basic information and make your voice heard:
This is our chance to take America in a new direction — so the next four years don’t look like the last eight.
We can’t do this without you.
Thanks,
Steve (Obama’s FL coordinator)
First day went fine. After the printers got sorted out, the technical side of the day worked well. To give you an idea how hopelessly outgunned we are in PBC, consider that the Obama poll watchers (my counterparts) had 2 hour shifts (I went through 4 of them). They were all “Voting Rights Attorneys”. They all wanted to hate me, but my redneck charm ended up having them laughing after 5 minutes.
I had to "break-in" five new Obama lawyers. They were all nice folks. Three women and two men. The men almost seemed apologetic that they were there. I always give them the lay of the land and what to look for in the room. As I have now broken in nine Obama lawyers, my jokes are getting really good. Lines like "they didn't teach me that in my Voter Suppression course" seem to get a good belly laugh. These folks are the smarter Obama folks and seem to be a bit above the rank-and-file insanity of the...rank-and-file. Some even commented on the "crazies in the campaign". Can't argue with that!
We had two voter fraud instances that were reported to me and my counterpart via the election supervisor (who, while obviously a Democrat, is an EXACTING man and scrupulously adheres to the rules). Strangely, while I wrote up scrupulously detailed "incident reports" on the two reported fraud attempts, my Obama counterpart seemed to have no such need. It is almost like she expected and condoned such behavior and was rueful that it failed.
One was a young man that attempted to vote without registration, once busted actually ran out of the polling place when confronted with a provisional ballot (the first thing that young felons are taught: when things are going south, run for it!)
The second fraud attempt was more insidious. An elderly woman came in to vote and was told that she had voted already, via absentee. When she mentioned that she had neither requested an absentee ballot, nor cast one, the election supervisor called the PBC HQ for confirmation. They pulled her absentee ballot (took 30 minutes), and verified that the signature DID NOT MATCH with the signature on file and were able to discard the absentee ballot and she voted. She probably voted for Obama anyway. The election supervisor told us that this wasn't the first time that this type of event had happened in her particular retirement area, indicating a pattern of abuse. I felt that this was a "call the hotline" moment and talked to my ant-masters. The Obamatron sat serenely and did nothing.
The third guy was just a garden variety Obama whacko who decided to make a federal case (literally) about the prohibition on cell phones in the polling place. He lost it on the poll workers and saw me and my counterpart (he apparently could not tell who was who) and asked if we wanted to "hear a good story". I helpfully prodded my counterpart that this one "sounds like a job for you". She sighed and dutifully took his tale of woe and vote chilling down (no cell phones == voter suppression). She even called it in to her HQ, which of course meant that I had to write an incident report too. Mine was, I am sure, much more light-hearted than hers.
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