Opinion: My 2012 Voting Experience

By neighbor Lynne Yeamans

On Tuesday, I was more than happy to cast my vote. But my experience left me feeling like there is still a lot of work to be done to make this a better, more efficient, and informed process. I will be filing a complaint at 866-OUR-VOTE about my voting experience at PS 6 in Brooklyn. If you had a similar experience, I encourage you to do the same. We know better, but we need to make some noise for those that aren’t as familiar with their voting rights.

It started out with what I know a lot of people had to put up with, the extremely long lines, waiting two hours in the cold. People were cheerful though, and one woman had her car idling in front of the school blaring WashiWara’s Barack Obama song, which could have been construed as electioneering, but did go a long way to make the waiting less monotonous.

As I finally neared the door, I witnessed one woman exiting the polling site, complaining that she was told that if she filled out an affidavit ballot, her vote might not count. Fortunately, someone waiting on line dragged her back in, telling her of course her vote will count.

Once inside the chaotic, overcrowded, disorganized gym (which was thankfully heated, and despite the chaos, the workers and the voters were all still pleasant), people (including myself) were being asked to present photo ID, which is actually not required in NY state unless the voter rolls are messed up (wrong address, etc.) or if you are a bonafide first time voter who’s never signed the rolls.

The voting booths were a mess, with pens missing, people were simply being instructed, “If you have a pen, use a pen.”

After being directed to the scanning station, I put my ballot in face down and the ballot scanning attendant took it out and put it in face up, which was the way she insisted it must go in. (The scanners actually scan either way, face up or face down.) This gave her the opportunity to peruse my ballot, which she did. When she looked at my ballot, she put her pen to it about to adjust my vote, and instructed me that I must vote under the Democratic ticket instead of a Third Party option. I had to assure her that I could vote under any ticket. This was the part that I found most disturbing and is the focus of my complaint. At the very least, the poll workers are not being properly educated about voter rights and the process itself. And at the very worst, they are purposely being informed to steer voters away from Third Party candidates.

And that I find frightening.