I am so irritated by this. I’ve noticed this stuff for the last week, and today one of Salon’s columns did it too.
Reporters and commenters and Chicken Littles all over the internet are relying on incident tallies from the Election Incident Reporting System (1-866-OUR-VOTE) to measure just how awful our election system is, just how disenfranchised voters are, just how rife with abuse, fraud, and incompetence the whole process of voting is. Tens of thousands of problems on election day! And that’s the just the people who bothered to call! THE SKY IS FALLING!
Apparently not a one of these people did much actual reading on that site. Drill down to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, for example, a county marked deep brick red to indicate how much worse it was then the other counties in the state (and country!). Read some of the “problems” listed:
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Voter wants to know if he qualified as an absentee voter (called in Oct).
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Voter wants to know where he can get a sample ballot (called in Oct).
Okay, those are voters who lack information, but is this really the kind of voting “problem” that should make us rend our garmets, question the election’s outcome, and scream for reform?
If you look to problems reported on election day, you see worrisome reports of long lines and hassles from election workers over small typos on voter registration cards. That’s bad. That’s very bad. We have to fix that. But you also see stuff like:
- School security guard posted outside polling place
Well, what does that mean? I suppose that might be intimidating to some people, but he might be there for a good reason. I know at my school, they wanted to make sure voters stayed separate from the schoolchildren and weren’t mixed up with vistors on school business (who have to wear a pass). Maybe that’s what this guy was doing?
Here’s one classified “VOTER INTIMIDATION:”
- Voter told they would have to remove or turn inside out “KERRY” t-shirt. Voter was allowed to vote after doing so.
How is this intimidation? If the state has laws against electioneering in the polling place, then yes, voters will have to be asked to remove or cover campaign related items, regardless of the candidate promoted. I’m sorry, that’s NOT intimidation–or if you want to argue that, I’d say it’s intimidation that is unavoidable. One would hope that the request would not be made with hostility and rudeness, but the incident doesn’t say anything about how they were asked.
I am concerned as the next guy about problem with our election system. I’m glad that advocates are trying to get a handle on what’s happening to voters when they try to vote, and what problems they are encountering. But they’ve got to be a little more careful how they classify these reports. And people who are citing those reports, including you, whats-your-name at Salon.com, need to use their heads, too. Otherwise one starts to wonder how much of their reporting is crap. And if concerned reform-minded me is wondering that, what do you suppose goes through the heads of people in the position/power to make these changes but who already appear resistant?
Grrr.