Comments on Supreme Court Upholds Voter Identification Law

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Re: being an election judge (Democrat of course)

First off, thanks very much for serving! Much appreciated.

Second, yes, elections do cost money to conduct. And busy polling places do require extra effort from the voter. Would it not behoove the boards of elections to promote absentee voting? (By the way - how would the Indiana Democrats prosecute crossover voters who vote absentee?) Would it not behoove them to make sure everything is ready to roll without flaw from when the polls open until they close?

Also, would it not behoove the registrars to ensure that the pollworkers are trained to do their work as expeidently as they can? The only delays I've ever encountered were due to pollworkers who had no clue what they were doing, such as completely ignoring me when I told them where to find my name on the page of the rolls that was open before them (I can read upside down).

Finally, would it not behoove the boards of elections to promote voter education and preparation? How many voters tie up the process by dithering in the booth about whom or what to vote for, when someone who already has made the decisions could be done in a minute or two?

Yes, it would be frustrating to be turned away at closing time. But that is not only a price of freedom (the real price is the blood shed to protect it); it is a price of living in a society of porcrastination, overly packed schedules and skewed priorities that put voting pretty far down the list.

posted by WriterofLight on May 5, 2008 at 7:25 PM | link to this | reply

being an election judge (Democrat of course)

I want to tell you that this will cost money. The first cost is making the new photo ID's (people pay for them, of course, but there is material and time cost involved [the other question is how can poor people pay for them?])

the second is the cost to print all the extra provisional ballots that probably will be necessary for the influx of voters without ID's; then the time taken up to have the voter fill those out, with the judges taking time away from verifying other voters' ID's. You will have a longer wait as a result. You had a long wait the last several presidential elections, and this one promises a larger turnout than ever it seems. Imagine how long you might have to wait. Imagine that you come in at closing and the judge steps in front of you at the end of the line and tells you that you can't vote because the person ahead of you is the last eligible voter because after him or her the polls are closed. Imagine that you are among quite a few people not allowed in to vote at your polling place.