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10/28/2004: "Election Preparations"

Last night was the final meeting for Ann Arbor Election Inspectors. The last time I worked as an election inspector was in November of 1996; there are changes.

Paranoia
First, Lansing is very concerned about Florida style sanfu's. The City Clerk normally has 4 phone lines; they will have 8 lines for this election. Two former city clerks came out of retirement to assist with this election. The city is hiring high school students to assist with the election. They have trained special closers to show up at 7:30 -- half an hour before the polls close -- and observe that everything is done right. They have even hired lawyers to work as election inspectors. Not only do lawyers have better knowledge of election law, lawyers are less likely to be intimidated by strident partisans.

Police
The police department also met with the city clerk's office, information services, and the city attorney. Although there are no specific threats, they are concerned about terrorism. The police insist on visiting each of the precincts on election day. The clerk's office has asked that the visits be brief.

(For the record, one election inspector asked, "Will they have guns on?". Sigh; some people.)

Challengers
In all the elections I've worked before now, I have seen many so-called challengers. Normally, they do not challenge; they merely observe. In the past, they've written down names of those yet to vote during the day and go home to make get-out-the-vote calls. More recently, they'd show up at closing time to get election results. Never have I seen a challenger actually challenge; that is, point to a potential voter and say, "you don't belong here." The city expects challengers this time.

As of last night, only the two major parties had registered as challenging political organizations. They will be allowed two challengers per precint at a time. Only one challenger will be designated as challenger at a time; the non designated challenger may only observe. A challenger may only challenge one voter at a time.

My concern, which I did not share with the clerk's office, is overwhelmed challengers. Suppose there are two improperly registered voters that arrive to vote at the same time. The challenger, restricted to one challenge at a time, will have to permit one improper vote.

Provisional Ballots
I do not yet fully grok the process for provisional ballots. The city received four in the August primary; while they do expect more on Tuesday, they don't know how many more to expect. The most recent court case indicated that provisional ballots must be cast in the voter's home precinct. We are to call city hall if we get more then 50 provisional ballots by 5 PM.