Don’t vote provisional – cue the anonymous GOP threats
Thu, Oct 23, 2008
Well, well, well. Now that I’ve begun telling voters to refuse provisional ballots and demand regular ballots, as RFK Jr. is doing, we seem to have drawn a little blood.
Some anonymous douchebag, calling himself Matthew, IP address 75.39.98.231 in Beachwood, Ohio, is using my blog as the GOP’s last line of defense against their provisional ballot strategy. He’s even resorted to claiming voters will be committing a felony if they demand a regular ballot.
Douchebag Matthew’s entire argument rests on the notion that the system is different from 2004. Well, duh. What’s not different is the GOP’s strategy, which is to inflate provisional ballot counts in order to (a) lower the margin on election night among regular ballots, (b) throw the result in Ohio into doubt, (c) get a margin close enough to demand a recount in Ohio, and then (d) disqualify voters in the event of a recount.
The only tool a voter has to fight this strategy is to demand a regular ballot, and refuse a provisional. Whether or not this is 2004, or 2008, or any other year, that is the final line of defense against the GOP vote suppression strategy. If you don’t vote provisional, and get a regular ballot, the GOP effort fails utterly.
The vast majority of voters being forced to vote provisional will be, and have been in the past, people voting “in the wrong precinct”. Polling places, especially in urban areas, have multiple precincts in the same building, say precincts 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D. If a voter who lives in 4A happens into the wrong line for precinct 4B, waits for a long time, and gets to a table where the 4B list doesn’t have their name on it, they will be told to vote provisional.
Douchbag Matthew demands that voter to just accept on face value that he/she has to vote provisional because the 4B list doesn’t have the registration. Wrong. That voter can go and get into another line, in the same building, get to the right list for precinct 4A, and get a regular ballot. But if the voter isn’t educated to understand this problem exists, to work their way to the right list, and instead trusts the pollworker and the provisional ballot, that ballot will never be counted, because it will have been cast in the “wrong precinct”, 4B, even though 4A’s list is in the same room.
If voters don’t take “provisional” for an answer, this one scenario’s elimination will reduce provisional ballot counts dramatically. And that’s before you get to the bogus “ID” problems that will inevitably be thrust at a voter in an urban polling place.
Bottom line – you do not want to vote provisional, ever. If you are registered, and you have ID, and you get told to vote provisional, you need to find out why, get a polling official to address the issue on the spot, make them call the BOE if you have to, and you should not leave until you vote with a regular ballot.
Despite what Douchebag Matthew threatens.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:08 am
*facepalm*
I don’t live in Beachwood.
I’m also not recommending that everyone lay back and take the provisional ballot if someone hands it to them. I keep saying it: go to the other judges, who will be of different political parties, and see if they’ll give you a regular ballot. Tell the poll observers what the first judge tried to do. Try whipping out another form of ID. Try the other tables at the polling location.
But for goddsakes, don’t try taking a regular ballot by forcing the pollworker to give you one. Don’t interfere with other voters, or intimidate election officials. These acts -are against the law- and -carry heavy penalties.-
October 24th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Hey Dude! I absolutely love this blog. You’re doing a great job. Keep up the great work……keep telling the truth. I’ll be a regular visitor! Only wish I had found it sooner.
Duke
November 4th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
It’s your philosophical duty not to participate (a.k.a. Vote) in the theocratic-oligarchies’ Punch & Judy Show Elections.
Stay on groovin’ safari,
Tor Hershman
November 7th, 2008 at 3:17 am
Tim,
Now that the election is over, I will tell you a little bit more about myself. Perhaps then you will understand why I responded to your post in the manner I did.
This election, I worked as a poll worker in one of the most problematic districts of Cuyahoga County. As someone with some legal experience, felt that I would be of the most help to the integrity of this election by ensuring that fewer shenanigans occurred at the polls.
On November 4, I chose to man the voter assistance table, where all provisional ballots are handled. I did my best to avoid giving provisional ballots. When voters were sent to me, I always double checked the registered voter lists. At least twice, the first person who looked at the list just missed the voter’s name, and the voter was able to cast a regular ballot without further trouble. If I couldn’t find the voter’s name, I checked their address. Often, they were simply in the wrong precinct. I personally called the voter registration hotline to give them directions to their proper voting precinct (the only place their votes count), along with a the BOE voter registration number to call if they got lost.
In all but a handful of cases, I would only whip out the provisional ballot when the person admitted requesting an absentee ballot but failed to turn it in. With every provisional ballot, I gave the voter information about what I was doing, why I was doing, and how to avoid it in the future. I also strongly advised the voter to call the BOE within the next ten days to verify the status of their vote.
All told, the precinct I worked used a grand total of 29 provisional ballots. But most importantly, it had no complaints after the initial morning rush. (When the polls first opened, one inattentive poll worker didn’t realize the ballot was a 2-pager, and gave a handful of voters split ballots. The problem was quickly discovered and corrected, but the issue was reported to the BOE all the same.)
You also might like to know that I was a Presiding Judge in this election. You also might like to know that, to be a Presiding Judge, one must be of the same party as the current Secretary of State.
Ergo, I am a -Democrat-.
In your quest to reveal me as a GOP douchebag, you overlooked the major hints I dropped which revealed my actual political affiliation. I tailored those hints specifically based on what I knew you already knew, and what the casual observer would not. Had you inquired into those hints as I recommended, you’d have quickly discovered my full identity.
By the way, my name is actually Matthew. I also represent indigent criminal defendants in the metro area, so I have an strong interest in keeping people out of jail.
Anyway, I post my message in a bygone thread because I know that you’re probably the only person who will receive notice that the post has been made. In all likelyhood, you’ll also be the only person who reads it. As I said before, I’m a private person. Unlike you, I can and choose to preserve my internet anonymity to the extent I can.
In the end, I just regret that you felt the need to mistreat me like others mistreated you.
Good night, and good luck.
~Matthew