My experiences as an election judge

[Christian Rudolph <reindeer@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I want to explain that while I was an election judge, I am not an
expert on election law, and have never claimed to  be.

My experience as an election judge were very positive in instructive.
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting a wonderful  and thoughtful
elderly couple who worked as judges with me, so much so that if
it's possible, I would work with them again in the general election.
We had what we all considered to be a really successful first time out,
especially in light of our collective inexperience as judges.

Voters asked me some very interesting questions:
--
"How many votes have there been so far?"  <-- a question that I am 
clearly NOT allowed to answer by law.  This should be emphasized
in the judges manual, in my opinion.

"Will my vote count?"
"Where is the ballot stub?"
"Why the new ballots?"
"Can I vote using the old ballot style?  I liked it better."
"If I fold it in half, won't that ruin the ballot?"
"Why is this polling place not actually within the precinct?"
"Why is this place so hard to find?"
"Why is there a security sleeve?"
"Why do I have to affiliate with a party for the primary? -
I didn't have to do that when I lived in <state>?"
"Why do I have to write on a sign-n sheet?"
"Doesn't the number on there mean that it can be tracked?"
--

Many voters were surprised to learn that their vote would be
counted by a machine.

Some small number of voters were surprised to see new ballots,
and surprised to learn that the voting system had been changed.
Most knew of the change.

Voters universally already knew to show photo ID, and some had their
IDs ready.
One voter thought that his non-government work badge would suffice.
Many voters asked me to "make sure my vote is counted".

Lots of voters asked why the ballot had to be folded, and were
concerned that folding it would spoil it.
I did not find a mention in the judges manual that explained that
ballots were to be flattened out, as I read about in the Camera.
It may be in the manual and I missed it.
I thought that flattening would clearly allow the ballots to be viewed,
and I did not want to violate election law, and I did not want to
know how anyone voted. 
Maybe someone can clarify this for me, and amend the judges manual
accordingly, if necessary.

I read the election judge's training manual, and found some minor
glitches, but found it to be very helpful and informative, and
well written overall.
I learned that ballots are to be handed out in a random fashion,
which I looked up because a voter asked about it.
I think that this should be emphasized more in a revision of the
manual, especially in light of voter concerns of privacy.

The was confusion about the red seal and the gold ballot box seal,
as the judges manual does not actually say that the seal on the
ballot box is the gold seal.
Also, I learned that the ballot box does not get locked, but only
requires the gold seal on it.
There were three gold seals, which confused us as well, as there
are three judges.  We were told that this confusion was universal.

I discovered the there was a very light voter turnout compared with
other precincts.  I don't know why.
This may have been due to the fact that this was a new precinct,
or that the polling place was hard to find, or that it was not
actually in the precinct, or some other reason.

Linda Salas said that they did not receive complaints by phone,
and that this meant that everything was okay.
I respectfully suggest that the County Clerks may want to 
try to find out why the turnout was dramatically different from
other precincts, as Linda informed me that many other precinct
required additional ballots. 
My guess is that we had the lowest turnout anywhere.
I am not suggesting that anything was wrong,
but it does seem odd.
Maybe it's not a problem at all.

The County Clerk Gloria who performed the training on Thursday had said
that experienced judges would be paired with new judges, 
but in our precinct, none of the three of us had experience.
So everything went by the book, slow and sure.
We were probably the last precinct to finish as a result.
Folks were pretty tired by the time that we arrived, as were we.

All that said, I would be happy to work as a judge again in the
general election.  This time the work should go faster for us.

The good folks at the County Clerks office answered all of our
many questions quickly and courteously, and I thank them.


-Christian Rudolph
Election Supply Judge for precinct 4181107001