I don’t know if all states have early voting, but we do in Texas. Two weeks before Election Day, polling places are set up in a few dozen places around the county. Any registered voter can vote at any of these locations in their county. It isn’t determined by precinct like it is on the actual Election Day, the primaries aren’t separated by party until Election Day. They pull up your precinct’s ballot using the info on your voter registration card, ask you to choose which party’s primary you want to vote in, and you proceed like normal. Anyway…
My husband went to vote this morning. We live in Houston, and the polling place he chose was on the way to work. Obviously Houston is heavily Republican in many areas, especially out on the suburbs where we are. He went in and gave the poll worker his registration card, and requested a Democratic ballot. The poll workers at the table gave him a dirty look, and then one worker said, “She’s not going to win.”
My husband was taken aback, but he was in a hurry to get to work and didn’t feel like snapping anyone’s neck today, so he didn’t reply. He just went ahead and voted and left. He called me afterwards to tell me what happened. We kind of laughed because we’re not voting for “her” in the primary anyway (go Obama!), but I was just horrified. I’ve been a precinct chair and an election judge, and I know that was waaaaaaay out of line and illegal. Even if the person who made that comment was another voter, the poll workers are supposed to respond and put a stop to that kind of thing immediately. I called the Harris County Democratic Party to register a complaint, and they will follow up on it.
I voted at a different location today and had no problems. I think the Republicans here are terrified because we’ve had MASSIVE Democratic voter turnout so far. 9,233 people voted in the Democratic primary on Tuesday alone, compared to the 849 who voted on the first day of early voting in 2004. Only 2,914 Republicans voted on Tuesday, and while their presidential race isn’t too hotly contested at this point, it’s still uncommon for their number to be dwarfed that way. Still, there is no excuse for inappropriate behavior by election workers, and I hope they come down on those people like a ton of bricks. I hope they wake up to Michael Moore and a camera crew at their front door, quite frankly. They deserve it.
My mother, who is in her eighties and blind, voted in a previous election in a very heavily Democratic area. Because she is blind, she needed the help of a poll worker to cast her vote.
Inside the curtain, when she told the poll worker she wanted to cast her ballot for the Republican, the worker responded with something like, “Oh, honey. Let me tell you, you don’t want to do that. I could tell you stories about [the candidate], but I’m not allowed to. You really don’t want to do that.”
My mom says she’s still not sure who she ended up voting for, given the poll worker’s disdain for the choice she requested.
It’s surely crappy when poll workers let their own feelings of partisan support bleed over into their duties.
I hope it’s isolated. Like I said, I didn’t have a problem where I voted either. My mom is a die-hard Republican and she was horrified to hear it had happened too. I know most people want fair, orderly elections. It’s just sad when the people who are supposed to know better cause problems.
Don’t forget that you can vote a second time, in the caucus. People who vote in the primary are eligible to vote again in the caucus, which awards ~50 more delegates to the candidates.
Oh, Texas and your confusing electoral processes. Yes, I will be attending my precinct convention. I ran ours in 2004 when I was precinct chair, but I’ve moved out of that precinct and am curious what kind of turnout we’ll have in my new precinct.
This and what happened to the OP’s husband is horrible and absolutely unacceptable; poll workers are supposed to be neutral individuals who prepare you to vote and do not let their own personal bias affect their job. Comments and possibly causing a person who needs assistance to vote for a candidate that they don’t want is incredibly unethical.
When I worked at the polls during the '04 presidential election, a very elderly woman came in and asked me to help her vote for the candidate I was deeply opposed to. I died a little on the inside, but I didn’t do anything other than smile and help her out.
It’s unbelievable and infuriating to me that there are people out there who wish to usurp others’ right to vote as they choose, whether it be by passive or aggressive means.
That’s pretty strange, it’s not like your husband was trying to vote for the communist cantidate or anything. I would think that MOST people who showed up to vote would be wanting the democratic ballot. I certainly wouldn’t bother getting out to vote for a guy who already has the nomination in the bag.
This makes me kind of sort of want to consider maybe volunteering at the polls. Just so I can make sure that people who need assistance get to vote for whomever they damn well please. Of course, I have a feeling that as a newcomer I’d be assigned to making sure the bathroom has toilet paper or something…
People who give that sort of commentary at an official election site need to be removed permanently. Saying anything particular about one candidate or the other is basically saying “I lied about being objective, I really need to be kicked off of my volunteered post, and not allowed to ever volunteer again.”
I say report her immediately! I served as an election official in Hawaii one year, and nothing like that would have been tolerated even for a moment. I know I like to bitch about Texas and all, but I cannot believe that even there, this would be overlooked.
During my stint in Hawaii, we had a blind voter come in, and we had very clear guidelines: Two of us had to accompany the voter, and we had to be registered with different parties, to keep an eye on each other.
My area of NY is heavily Democrat. When my elderly father and his wife went to vote in the primary, the machine was mistakenly set for Democrat instead of Republican, so they couldn’t vote. They were told that their vote would be recorded, but how could that be possible if they didn’t even get a chance to pull a lever?
By the time I got to the same polling station later in the day, I could see a stack of Democrat tickets about 9 inches high, but only 1 or 2 Republican colored tickets (meaning people who had already voted). They scowled when I asked them about my father’s lost vote, and said, oh, it’s one of those types again (presumably meaning Republican).
Stupidity - there’s enough to go around in every state!
Are you kidding? I don’t know of a place that isn’t DYING to attract more poll workers, and obviously we need more poll workers who are there for the right reasons and who will make sure things are conducted as they’re supposed to be.
I was asked to work the primary, but I’m having a host of health issues right now and just can’t manage it this time. If things are better in November, I might do it then.
I really hope my husband’s experience was an isolated incident. I reported it immediately, so hopefully appropriate action will be taken.
Bricker, your mother’s story is just sickening. I’m so sorry.
I hope you encouraged and assisted your mother in reporting this. I have been an election official in a number of past elections in Northern Virginia, and such volunteers are sworn under oath not to do what that person did. It wasn’t just bad, or wrong, it was illegal.
Bricker, that story makes me sick. If that ever happens again, I hope she gives them holy hell. Me, I’m not above yelling for another volunteer, but I assume that your mother is more genteel than my pushy self.
When I went to vote in the 2004 election, I’d moved to a different apartment in the same building but hadn’t updated my registration. The Republican volunteer wasn’t going to let me vote, but the Democrat told her to stop being ridiculous and gave me a ballot. This was in a heavily Democrat area of Chicago.
