There were problems with electronic pollbooks, which are used to look up voters’ names and addresses, in at least 12 of Chesapeake’s 53 precincts, the city’s top voting administrator said Tuesday.
Top city Democrats were investigating the situation at one of those precincts in South Norfolk, where voters said they were not allowed to cast ballots until one hour after the polls opened. Chesapeake Democratic Committee Chairwoman Ella Ward thinks that precinct should stay open an hour later tonight.
“It’s not good,” said Ward, who is also a city councilwoman.
Chesapeake General Registrar Ginny Garrett said that some of the problems with the electronic pollbooks were caused because poll workers didn’t know how to hook them up properly. The result was “little glitches” that were fixed after technicians arrived, she said.
“We had a lot of problems with our e-polls,” she said, referring to the electronic pollbooks. “It was fairly widespread.”
In cases where the electronic pollbooks were not working, poll workers should have switched to paper pollbooks that contained voters’ names and addresses. That happened at some precincts, but did not happen at at least the one South Norfolk precinct.
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My comment continued
In California, Wells Fargo Bank struck a deal with the state election board to provide the services of their employees at voting sites on election day. As a result the state gained a pool of trained election workers paid at their regular rate of pay for their time to support the older workers. The state's cost was allowing Wells Fargo to use the state board of election logos in their future ads. Wells gets to tell all in advertising what nice community servants they are while the election board gets skilled help.
The existing election system is in desperate need of updating. It's 2008, not 1972!
You get what you pay for!
In Virginia Beach, where I worked as a election official for a few elections before moving West, the pay was only $60-$70 for the day. This pay covered the mandatory training session prior to the election which is held during business hours (1.5 hrs); the time taken to set up the polling place on the afternoon prior to election day (1.5 hrs and 2 hours away from the job) and the entire election day (14.5 hrs). We were not allowed to leave the site on election day so this meant a marathon day that started at 5am and ended at 8:30pm, all for a total of $70.
My point is that it is very difficult for someone working(most everyone under the age of 60) to be able to take time off from the job to work as an election official. Add to this reality the insulting pay for 17 hours of service at less than $4.50 per hour and you see why most of the poll workers are elderly, slow and lack modern skills. They are the only ones with the time and ability to work for less than minimum wage. As automation continues to become a part of the election process these workers will continue to struggle.
In California, Wells Fargo Bank struck a deal with the state election board to provide the service
Sounds like government as usual
In my experience that's pretty common at government operations. They don't want to pay market rate for technical people and are surprised when there are problems when they dump the task on non-technical people.
Wait times?
You only waited one hour in Chesapeake? It was 2 hours for most of the morning at Greenbrier Intermediate School!
I give a lot of credit to the voters who stood in line for so long to spend 15 seconds casting their ballot.
Is this why I was in line
Is this why I was in line for 1 hour, waiting to vote???
I don't mind waiting, however, incompetency I have no use for!!
The ignorance is astounding
>>>Chairwoman Ella Ward thinks that precinct should stay open an hour later tonight.
“It’s not good,” said Ward, who is also a city councilwoman. “It is not good.”<<<
From the Virginia State Board of Elections:
As a Virginia Voter, you have the following rights:
• To vote if you are in line by 7:00 p.m. when the polls close.
Full list here:
http://www.sbe.virginia.gov/cms/Voter_Information/Voter_Rights_Responsibilities.html#As%20a
Ms. Ward, instead of spot changing the law, how about focusing on the training of your staff in the proper installation of the equipment?