At the Page Street Library, there’s something crooked going on.
I voted this morning. Not only was the Eagle machine which recorded my vote malfunctioning (it took about eight tries before the Eagle machine took the ballot, but the lady (whose name, I have discerned, is Irena) actually looked at my ballot and said to me, “Are you sure you want to vote that way?” Further, I did not receive a voting stub back from my ballot. Just the offer of an orange sticker that said “I voted today.” Did my vote even count this morning? Was the machine even recording my results right? Further, are Irena’s remarks swaying other voters from making an informed decision?
I wasn’t the only person subject to Irena’s catty questions. My neighbor also experienced this.
I am greatly shocked by all this. I have voted in every election since I was 18 and have never once seen such political influence, in clear violation of election laws, maintained within the inner sanctum like this.
I’ve tracked down the appropriate person (a very nice lady named Hortensia) at the San Francisco Department of Elections and got them to pledge to replace the Eagle machine and look into Irena’s corrupt behavior today.
Needless to say, if anyone else in San Francisco is experiencing anything fishy, please let the Department of Elections know about this. The phone number is 415-554-4375.
My ballot was rejected in a machine this morning, because I didn’t vote for a “Second choice” for assesor. The guy asked me if my lack of a second choice was on purpose, so he could either hand me back the ballot or override the machine. That question easily could have been phrased as “Did you mean to vote this way?” so I don’t think Irena is necessarily an evil minion.
It’s very possible that she intended nothing by it. Often people are oblivious of the consequences or intent of their actions. And I’m not claiming anyone to be an “evil minion.” It’s the actions that are the issue here.
None of this discounts that (a) she failed to give me a voting stub, (b) she quite visibly bent her head over to LOOK at how I was voting and then proceeded to tell me, “Are you sure you want to vote that way?” and (c) unmentioned in the post above, when the Eagle machine was malfunctioning, I asked if my vote could be hand-counted, to which Irena replied no. Frustrated, I fed the ballot into the machine repeated times until it went through. (Now is THAT legal? Denying a hand count option? I don’t know, in light of some of the new voting machine overhauls. Someone might want to look into that.)
Oh! The poor old ladies can’t get the machines to work right. Oh, my! I feel soooo sorry for them. And what? My ballot isn’t right? The machine spits me out? Again and again and again??? Well, those poor workers, all confused and caustic — grabbing my ballot with what seemed anger, and questioning MY competence for filling out the ballot! My, oh my, oh my! And no receipt to boot!
Only BUSH/Schwarzenegger backers would excuse this bullroar. Complain at 554-4375 now! Your vote doesn’t count if it’s not counted! Yogi
Arnold has problems:
http://kron4.com/Global/story.asp?S=4091854