I’m angrier than a election poll worker who sees, a day before an election, the electoral process being threatened. But that’s the reality here in Albany County, New York and elsewhere in the state. People in this area, myself included, have been sent text messages from unknown numbers that apparently give out misinformation as to the location of polls for tomorrow’s primary election.
In the messages, which no one requested, incorrect poll location is given, meaning that someone who isn’t, shall we say, intelligent could show up at the wrong place, potentially discouraging that voter to just give up. What a way to mess with the electoral process?
If you don’t know your polling location…why not? I mean seriously. But if you don’t know, you can look your information up in this database.
Who’s behind this? What is their end game? Is this a malicious effort to damage the voting process? There seem to be more questions than answers. In my opinion, this is a clear case of malice and fraud.
This angers me, because tomorrow, from 5:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., I will be serving as a county poll worker, helping set up the equipment and then checking voters in and giving them their ballots. Before you call me a patriot who has volunteered to give up fifteen hours of his time, in Albany County, poll workers get paid and very well paid. I’ve been a poll worker in several counties in two states.
I, and my fellow poll workers, will likely be very cranky tomorrow, because I’m willing to bet that numerous people will show up to my site, in a suburb of Albany, expecting to vote only to be turned away.
Well, I, or should I say, we won’t be turning anyone away per se; we’ll no doubt be giving them their correct polling place. There will likely be many of them, making my job and the jobs of all the other poll workers quite unpleasant indeed. Hopefully, they won’t be deterred and hopefully they’ll go vote at their correct site.
Our job as poll workers is to encourage and assist voters, not hinder them. I take my job as a poll worker seriously, and I want everyone who is eligible to vote to vote.
I hope that the responsible parties are caught and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. If they cause even one person to not vote, then they’re guilty of a very serious crime, I say, and I hope they wind up in prison.
Earlier, I wrote about turning people away. I want you to know that we are not in the business of turning anyone away. If there are any problems with a voter, their issues will be addressed and handled on a case-by-case basis.
I don’t foresee turning anyone away altogether, because that would be denying them their right to vote. That can’t happen, of course.
There are many mechanisms in place to make sure people can vote in most any situation. If there are any disputes that I, or my fellow workers, cannot resolve, there will be judges from the state courts to make the final call.
They will most likely err on the side of caution and allow the citizen to vote. That’s what we want, but there’s only so much power that we have. That is why judges will be there. They hold the authority to make all manner of decisions.
Anyway, I hope that today’s text message stunt doesn’t discourage people. We need every voter who is allowed to vote in this election to vote.
(I do not represent Albany County. I am speaking for myself.)