RSS
February 5, 2008
Los Angeles = Voting Problems Everywhere?*
This morning at Elysian Elementary in Echo Park | Photo by Andy Sternberg/LAist
*UPDATE, 5:33 P.M.: More problems continue throughout LA County at the beach, in Santa Monica. At Los Angeles City Hall, two City Councilmembers had an emergency press conference telling voters to pay attention when voting and Dharma & Greg Actor Mimi Kennedy explains what's going on in a video interview with LAist. Also, Hillary Clinton answered our interview questions.
We're getting reports of problems from readers, writers and the media. John Ennis, one of the founders of Video the Vote, gave LAist this update. Most of the confusion today is over people who are not registered as Democrat or Republican who want to vote in the primaries. The issue might be that they moved and they thought they were up to date. If you are a non-partisan voter, all you have to do is go to either a Democratic or Republican voting booth. Other than a few precincts not opening on time, Ennis says things seem to be running smooth, but it's early in the day he warned. To report a bad voting experience, call Video the Vote at 866-OUR-VOTE
Here are some other comments we've heard around the interwebs, if you have any stories to tell, let us know in the comments!
"The board of elections failed to deliver voting equipment to polling places ALL OVER LOS ANGELES... Developing..." [Drudge Report]
"Neighborhood friends and I voted this AM over at the Fairfax Library Branch. There was a delay because the machine that "counts" our inked up ballots was on the fritz. The staff was overwhelmed and frankly didn't know what to do. Two folks said 'Get a Mac.' It was funny and sad, and scary. I thought the machine was a Diebold and therefore our Demo votes would somehow toggle over, or just toggle off—but after some research, this is what that machine is: http://www.inkavote.com/precinct_ballot_counter.htm" [Reader submitted]
"The Inkavote ballot verification machine doesn't work at my poll place at Elysian Elementary, Baxter/Valentine in Echo Park. I was casually told that the Inkavote ballot verification machine was not working and the poll worker took the ballot and said she would put it in the box herself. NOT COOL!" [LAist News Editor, Andy Sternberg]
"There was no line at my polling place, very smooth. And there was no line at In-n-Out in Sherman Oaks. Very odd!" [Reader submitted]
"My Brother-In-Law just came back from voting this AM -- he's registered Independent and wanted to vote in the Primary. I'd told him he could just request a ballot to do so. They told him he could not vote for a candidate. He said he thought he could, but they said because he is IND, he can't vote. That is an outright lie! I've tried to reach the Country Register to get someone over to straighten those people out -- as who know how many votes they are effecting! It's in 91342 at the American Legion in San Fernando... Please remind the independents that they CAN vote in the Primary and not to accept anything to the contrary and if ANYONE is near the American Legion in San Fernando -- please go in and explain voting rules to the people 'in charge.'" [Reader Submitted]
Note: The Independents rule is explained here: 'Independents' Can Vote for Democrats but Not Republicans in California Primary
| 
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
[ report this ]
SAN FERNANDO/ AMERICAN LEGION
They told my Brother In Law he couldn't vote Democrat (he's independant).
If you live around there, please go update them on voter rules and regulations!!!
[ report this ]
West Hollywood/Plummer Park - some disorganization this morning when the polling place opened; a very uptight supervisor, and a volunteer at the place advocating my voting buddy cast his for Obama...........
[ report this ]
At my polling place at Fairfax and Beverly, some were confused because many people's voting places were changed the night before. I got the postcard, but some did not. The night before?! Why in Jezebel's name did Feb. 5 sneak up on the people who are counting our votes?! Did they not have like half a year to prepare for this one day?
[ report this ]
I was in a hurry to get to work, but couldn't believe that my ballot was just stuffed into a cardboard box since the Inkavote verifier was "broken." DECLINE-TO-STATERS take note:
You must mark the box Dem. or Indep. at the top of your non-partisan ballot or it WON'T BE COUNTED
I apologize for the strong syntax but be prepared to submit a ballot without having it verified and just hope you can trust your poll workers not to bury or misplace it (selectively or otherwise).
[ report this ]
voted in burbank. they seemed pretty disorganized this morning, but i was there about 20 minutes after the polling place opened.
the lady seemed as if she was going to put my ballot in the box, but i got it out of her hands first and did it myself.
i did encounter a guy who was having a problem because he couldn't remember what he had registered as and didn't have his sample ballot with him. it seemed he was going to have to go home and come back later with it.
[ report this ]
voted in burbank. they seemed pretty disorganized this morning, but i was there about 20 minutes after the polling place opened.
the lady seemed as if she was going to put my ballot in the box, but i got it out of her hands first and did it myself.
i did encounter a guy who was having a problem because he couldn't remember what he had registered as and didn't have his sample ballot with him. it seemed he was going to have to go home and come back later with it.
[ report this ]
My polling place was super challenging to find, a building behind an apartment building with a tiny sign pointing to the alley leading there. I could only find it with a neighbor's help. Maybe I just have a bad sense of direction.
I had no problem voting once I got there, however, and I am registered as neither a Dem nor a Rep.
[ report this ]
yikes, just read andy's post.
mine was also stuffed into the same cardboard box. well, not the SAME box, but same deal. i'm a registered democrat though so hopefully there won't be any issue with mine being counted.
*crosses fingers*
[ report this ]
i voted at elysian park elem. this morning and had no problems. ink was working fine and no one seemed confused by the decliner to staters asking for dem ballots--that's probably what 1/3 of the people there were doing.
[ report this ]
i voted at rosemont elementary and it was a pretty easy process. no issues with the verification machine or anything like that.
[ report this ]
Voted at my usual place in Burbank. All went smooth. There were 5-6 people ahead of me, which is busy for my polling place. The worst part was it was in a cramped lobby with all the voting booths in clear view of us standing in line. It wouldn't have been difficult to watch others cast their vote.
[ report this ]
i was told i was not on the list and would have to fill out a provisional ballot. then some upper managing poll worker noticed and and found my name on the back page. which 4 poll workers did not even look at
[ report this ]
For the first time in my life, I voted for a black man for president with no sense of irony. Win or lose, today truly feels like a new day.
[ report this ]
hey db, was it at the car dealership? did they have the inkavote verifier working by the time you were there?
[ report this ]
The only problem I had with voting was the oblivious woman who spent five minutes yapping into her cell phone at the voting booth instead of attending to the matter at hand.
Wanna bet she voted for Hillary?
[ report this ]
I voted downtown this morning at the Film Bootcamp location and it was perfection - smooth process, voting machines worked, verifier worked. No funny business.
[ report this ]
Just voted at Hollywood/Franklin and discovered somewhere along the line my party was changed. I asked someone there how that could have happened, she had no idea, blamed computers in general and suggested that I just re-register. Which doesn't solve the problem of how this happened and how to prevent it in the future.
[ report this ]
I voted in Burbank... it was a bit sloppy, but it got the job done.
They (at the voting polls) told me that I need to mark the non-partisan thing so my vote will count. So my vote will count.
A lot of Burbank peeps in the house today, eh?
[ report this ]
"My Brother-In-Law just came back from voting this AM -- he's registered Independent..."
Is your B-in-L registered American Independent, or Nonpartisan?
Nonpartisans can vote in either the Dem or AIP primaries, but I don't think AIP's can vote Dem.
I voted in Mt. Washington. Very smooth (I thought), but they didn't tell me to fill in the bubble at the top of the ballot. Sounds like my vote is a goner.
[ report this ]
Christina, no it was at the Adult School.
Brent, I felt exactly the same way.
[ report this ]
LA County Election Protection Hotlines:
310-801-9546
310-779-0816
[ report this ]
Voted at Virginia Park in Santa Monica. No one checked my ID which I guess maybe they can't do (???) but it seemed weird. Couldn't I go back with my two roommates booklets and different outfits and vote 3 times?
My boyfriend is registered but they couldn't find him on their list so they said he had to vote provisional even though HE WAS CONFIRMED in the same place.
I felt empowered for voting, as always, but the process seems sketchy.
[ report this ]
You're right Sloane! They never asked for ID and I didn't have any of my voter info with me. Just my name and address.... I EASILY could have come back 20 minutes later and repeated the process using my roommates name -- or even picked a name/address at random... they're posted on the door of the polling place as you walk in.
But I'm not working for the Clinton campaign ;-)
[ report this ]
i wasn't asked for my ID either. i filled out a pink card with all my pertinent info, printed my name into their big book and she inserted the pink card into my ballot after i voted and that's what was put into the cardboard box. is that what happens if the counter isn't working? i'd not ever encountered that before...
[ report this ]
LA Weekly has a post about one of the biggest problems on the LA county ballot: The Decline to State double bubble that has to be marked for your vote to count.
[ report this ]
This post and the LA voting problems has been discussed here: http://machinist.salon.com/blog/2008/02/05/la_voting/index.html
Note that Clinton's camp is saying there are "no problems whatsoever in Los Angeles." Odd.
[ report this ]
No real problems at my polling place in Sherman Oaks. They didn't ask for ID though. I was also weirded out when I was contemplating the issues and one of the old lady monitors kept yakkin to me about how some other old lady marked the actual booklet instead of the ballot.
[ report this ]
I went to my polling place -- the Fellowship Hall at the Western Church of L.A. on Fairfax -- at 8am. I am a registered Republican. Voted. Took ballot to the electronic machine. Machine spits it back at me. Won't accept it. I toss the ballot & vote again. Same thing. This repeats 3 times. Getting annoyed. Other Republicans now having the exact same problem. People who work there are confused and bewildered, without a clue as to what the issue is. Now people are getting aggravated, including me. I end up casting a "provisional" ballot as if I am not on the registrar (which I am). Total chaos.
[ report this ]
I just came from voting in my polling station in Manhattan Beach CA (Veranda's restaurant at 401 Rosecrans Ave). While I was there a gentleman came in and stated that he had voted earlier - he was registered as an Independent and voted with a Democratic ballot for the Democratic Primary. He said that he had not filled in the Democratic bubble above the presdential choice, only the choice for his candidate (I dont know who his candidate was). He was concerned about whether his vote would be counted and if he could do anything. None of the poll workers knew what to tell him and said that had been a question all day. They pointed him to the Supervisor. At that point, I joined in line behind him because I was confused as to whether I needed to fill in that blank as well (although I am registered as a Democrat). The supervisor also said he had no idea and didnt know what to tell him, but that this had been a problem all day at many locations. The supervisor also said this had been the most unorganized election he had ever worked - that he had never seen things this bad before. it was a mess. I went ahead and left mine unmarked since I am registered as a Democrat... but the ballot was very confusing, and I am still not sure that I did the right thing.
[ report this ]
Everything was fine over in Playa del Rey this morning, but as my polling guy was showing me the ropes [it was my first voting time] he made sure to point out where to punch in for Hillary...hilarious!
[ report this ]
The Inkavote verifier does absolutely nothing and should be scrapped. We had the same problems in 2007. I don't get why people think it's "NOT COOL" to just put it in the box. We did that all the time. The verifier does nothing other than make sure there are dots on the sheet and you didn't hit an extra one. If you can't count or see dots, maybe you should either ask someone else to help you or do it at home where you have all day.
[ report this ]
Here's my experience....
http://laist.com/2008/02/05/you_must_be_abl.php#comments
[ report this ]
I took my granddaughter to the polls to vote at Hillcrest Elementary School, and there was confusion with the decline-to-state voters, voters whose name was on one list but not another, voter name not on the books at all, the voting box jammed so the polling clerk took ballots by hand to put in the box and the people working the poll tables were confused about the rules and giving wrong information.
The biggest problem, was the consolidation of polling places, without notification to the voters. The Inspector was very good about helping, but I believe she was overwhelmed. If the voter did not want to go to the new polling place, she would give them a provisional ballot. I lot of people left in disgust and did not vote.
Was it voter suppression or just "mass" disorganization?
[ report this ]
JingaLA:
All voters were notified of their polling place, regardless of whether it was moved or not. It's on your sample ballot. I can't emphasize enough how important it is to read your sample ballot.
Polling place locations change because different elections have different expected turnouts. A low-turnout election will have bigger precincts because they can handle it. A high-turnout election like Tuesday's will have smaller precincts and thus more polling places.