Voting

Despite the misting rain, we decided to walk to our polling place as we do every election. We vote in the garage of a house that is a 5-10 minute walk from here. We get there and Thom stays with Aaron while I go to vote. I tell the guy my last name, saying the first two letters several times. He looks at the white sheets in his rolls and says he doesn't see it. From where I'm standing, it looks like he wasn't on the right page - maybe a page or two before my last name would appear. I asked if he was sure, but by then, he was checking the blue pages and then the pink pages, and still doesn't find it.

I'm getting annoyed because I'm a registered voter and I've voted every election since we moved here 3 1/2 years ago, including the primary, so there is no reason for me not to be on the rolls. I asked him to check again, which he does, but he still holds the pages so I cannot see where he is looking. Usually, the poll worker has the sheets flat on the table and scans down the list where I can see.

Finally, without suggesting any of the other poll workers double-check, he offers me a provisional ballot. I refuse because a) provisional ballots are not counted tonight, they are counted after the fact, after they verify that you are a registered voter and b) I shouldn't have to cast a provisional ballot when I am a valid registered voter. I stepped aside to let the few other people in line vote while I talked to Thom. One of the poll workers asked if we had our voter pamphlets that list our precinct. We had left them at home since we've never needed them and knew how we were voting.

So we walk home in the misting rain to get our voter pamphlets. We drive back (at this point Thom is going to be really late for work - and it's raining harder) and this time, with the spelling in front of him, the guy finds our names on the rolls. On the white sheets, where I suspected they were. He doesn't apologize, but mumbles something about how he must have been looking under the wrong spelling.

When we got to the polls the first time, the guy in front of me was signing an orange sheet for a provisional ballot. I noticed maybe 8-10 signatures on that page. At 9:30 in the morning. I was surprised there were so many provisional ballots, but figured a lot of people must have registered late in the process. Now I suspect this half-wit polling worker just didn't search diligently through the rolls. I wouldn't be so annoyed with him if a provisional ballot was the same as a regular ballot. I think if you are going to work the polls, you should care enough to really verify that someone isn't on the rolls before offering a provisional ballot.

On the plus side, Aaron seemed to entertain the poll workers while I was voting. I heard laughter and when I came out, he had an "I voted" sticker upside down on his overalls. Only it was in Vietnamese. Which actually makes sense - I can't understand half of what he says, so I'm not surprised he knows Vietnamese.