Our Attempt To Vote

On Sunday we got another door hanger for Obama, informing us of our polling place. Thankfully, Virg was smart enough to know it was actually the wrong location! We ran outside to catch the people posting false polling information, but they had already disappeared.

We've discovered that Pennsylvania doesn't mail sample ballots to voters, nor do they mail us information booklets to tell us what candidates are running or what measures are on the ballot. So, we picked up the Sunday newspaper, but even that had no information. We eventually found some info on a random web site, but now I can't even seem to find that anymore. I therefore gave up and decided just to vote for president.

This morning we woke up early to get to our correct polling place before it opened at 7am.
Everything we read said that a driver's license would be sufficient identification, but we each brought our voter registration card, not wanting to take any chances. When we arrived at the polling place, there were Obama and McCain campaign signs around the entrance, which seemed pretty suspect.

There were already two long lines. There were murmurs in the crowd as to whether it made any difference which line you were in. Virg snuck inside to ask one of the poll workers, and sure enough, there are two precincts at this location, and you need to know your district number in order to vote. Thankfully, the number was on our registration cards. Still the poll workers were too inept to post signs or make any announcement to identify which line corresponded to which district number, so Virg kindly shared her information with others in line. Most people didn't seem to know their district number anyway, so they waited to get to the front before knowing which line they should have been in.

There were four electronic voting machines for each precinct. Apparently all four machines for our precinct were broken. And so 100% of the people in our precinct were already being given paper Emergency Ballots. To obtain one, I needed to show ID, at which point they gave me a numbered card without explanation. Another person then took the card, tore it in half like a movie ticket, and gave me back my voting stub. Then another woman handed me a ballot. "How do I fill it out?" I asked. "On those tables." "With what?" The woman handed me a pen, saying "There are more pens on the table." There weren't.

Virg and I sat at a table together and tried to make sense of our Emergency Ballots. There was a bubble that let you vote "Democratic," letting you vote the entire democratic ticket in a single bubble. But marking this and leaving the Obama bubble unmarked made me very nervous. Plus, we didn't know if the ballot would be counted by machine or by hand--if at all. So Virg and I read through the directions at the top very carefully. The directions described two options for voting: (1) vote for a single party, or (2) vote for a single party, and then mark the exceptions. There was no indication of how you might just vote for individuals, or how you might vote for some offices but not others. I took the ballot over to the poll workers and asked one of them what I should mark if I just wanted to vote for president. She looked at it, and told me she had no idea.

And so Virg and I decided to hedge our bets by using different strategies to mark our ballots. I marked both the "Democratic" and "Obama" bubbles, and nothing else. Who did I vote for with those bubbles? Like the poll worker, I have no idea. Did I vote for all democrats, or just Obama? Did I vote for all democrats except Obama? Or did I invalidate my ballot by marking both?

We were told to seal each ballot inside an envelope. But in order to get them to fit, we had to fold the ballots in quarters. I can't imagine they'll be able to score folded and sealed ballots by machine.

At last, Virg and I left, with no confidence that our votes will be counted. I really hope Obama can win Pennsylvania without us...