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2010 Primary Election Day

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  • #16
    Re: 2010 Primary Election Day

    Originally posted by Honoruru View Post
    at Washington Intermediate. The same problem I experienced last election re-appeared there again. They had a problem getting the vote counting machine to work. There wasn’t much of a line getting in to vote, but there was a long line of people with ballot in hand waiting for the tech to figure out how to make it work. It took half an hour to get the machine to work properly. I’m amazed they haven’t resolved this issue by now.

    I also thought the ballot was unnecessarily complicated. I could easily imagine someone invalidating the ballot.
    On that note, I want to send a special mahalo to all the poll workers who worked yesterday. It was one of the worst-run elections I have experienced in more than a decade, and for those who survived it, you deserve a pat on the back.

    I would like to make a few comments here. What kind of testing does Hart Intercivic do before posting their “escan ballot box machines” at each of the polling sites? At my site, like Honoruru experienced at Washington Middle School, the machine was not working when the polls opened.

    It was not for lack of trying. The poll officials worked very hard with their limited training to get the machine up and running. It took a Hart employee (the “tech”) to replace the machine with a brand new one before people could vote. That should never happen!

    Meanwhile, the electronic “JBO” voting machine wasn’t working either. So just like Honoruru said, at my site, there was a line of people waiting to process their ballots after they had voted.

    Think about this: people were already discouraged from voting since polling places statewide and especially on O‘ahu (poor Voter Assistance Officials ) were consolidated en masse. Now throw in this voting machine fiasco, and you have to ask yourself: who is accountable for this mess?

    We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans.

    — U.S. President Bill Clinton
    USA TODAY, page 2A
    11 March 1993

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    • #17
      Re: 2010 Primary Election Day

      At the time I voted in the precinct mentioned (22-3) at 8:45 am, things were running smoothly. I waited in a short line for some people to run their ballots into the machine, which gave me just enough time to take pictures of the polling place and its horrible "green gone wild" wall paint.


      Primary Election Day by macprohawaii, on Flickr


      Primary Election Day by macprohawaii, on Flickr

      The Miami Vice look is like so 80s.
      I'm still here. Are you?

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      • #18
        Re: 2010 Primary Election Day

        Here's a friend's experience that she posted on Facebook:
        "Give yourself enough time to vote. Someone tried to tell me that my ballot would be a "provisional ballot" and there was no guarantee that it would be counted? "SUPERVISOR!" *Resolved* Good thing I spoke with the office of elections yesterday. Telling them I was blogging my voting experience with my 3k+ FB friends didn't hurt neither."

        I asked her this question:
        "BTW, who gave you the provisional ballot misinformation? Was it a volunteer or a voter standing in line?"

        To which my friend replied:
        "Chairperson. She got her info from a women on the phone who would not identify herself. Supervisor cleared it up quickly. Case of poor training."

        Amazing. It makes me wonder how many other voters were told the same thing and didn't question the chairperson and/or walked away without voting.

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        • #19
          Re: 2010 Primary Election Day

          Originally posted by tutusue View Post
          "BTW, who gave you the provisional ballot misinformation? Was it a volunteer or a voter standing in line?"

          To which my friend replied:
          "Chairperson. She got her info from a women on the phone who would not identify herself. Supervisor cleared it up quickly. Case of poor training."

          Amazing. It makes me wonder how many other voters were told the same thing and didn't question the chairperson and/or walked away without voting.
          It sounds to me that you are blaming the chairperson. Keep in mind that according to the election handbook (I've served as an election official) the chairperson is supposed to get her information from that "woman on the phone." The mysterious woman, is, in fact, a “control center” worker whose job it is to advise chairpersons statewide. If anyone was poorly trained, it was the woman on the phone. Hopefully someone from the state is reading this thread, and will advise the Office of Elections to hire more competent "control center" telephone operators.

          Meanwhile, looks like Honoruru and myself weren’t the only ones experiencing the incompetence of Hart Intercivic. The Kailua side of the island also had defective machines. IMHO, we should fire this vendor and move on. Clearly, they are the real problem, not the Office of Elections directors we keep trying to blame:

          Confusion mars election

          By Star-Advertiser staff

          POSTED: 05:55 a.m. HST, Sep 18, 2010

          Primary election day was not without the usual assortment of glitches. At least four Oahu voting machines malfunctioned. Some voters tried to cross party lines. And others scrambled just to find the right place to cast their ballots.

          We can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans.

          — U.S. President Bill Clinton
          USA TODAY, page 2A
          11 March 1993

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: 2010 Primary Election Day

            Regarding "crossing party lines" in a primary election - I remember doing this in another state when I was younger. If you desired to vote for the candidates of a party other than your own, or if you were registered as Independent, you could sign a statement at the polling place that you were changing your party registration at that time. Then after voting, you could sign another one, changing affiliation back to whatever you were before. It was perfectly legal.

            Does Hawai`i permit something similar?

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            • #21
              Re: 2010 Primary Election Day

              The pledge is unnecessary here. All primary ballots are issued on the same piece of paper (this wasn't always the case; you used to get a separate piece of paper for each ballot; you'd choose one and the rest would be discarded). In the voting booth, you choose which ballot you'll vote on and membership in a party is completely irrelevant.

              This confuses a LOT of voters who don't quite get the concept of a primary election.

              I considered crossing over because there was only one Libertarian candidate on the ballot, and that was for Congress. However, once I stood in that booth with my pen in hand, I reminded myself what a vote on that ballot meant. I voted Libertarian. Go, Lloyd Mallan!
              But I'm disturbed! I'm depressed! I'm inadequate! I GOT IT ALL! (George Costanza)
              GrouchyTeacher.com

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