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Tales from the Polls (2021 Primary Edition)
The voter tried inserting his ballot on either side (even though the scanners record both images) and on a second machine. Each time, the error message screamed that there were incorrect markings.
Scanner inspectors are supposed to only handle ballots at the discretion of the supervisor, but the man was getting agitated. This was a waste of his time, he declared, and demanded that I look for these so-called “incorrect markings.”
On the back of his (Republican) primary ballot, there was a section on top separated by a dark black line, with an all-caps warning, “FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY.” A lone empty box sat there, in the event his ballot needed to be reviewed, for an inspector to confirm it had been reviewed. The man had written an “X” in that box, above the dark black line, despite the all-caps warning.
I pointed to the X and suggested that he return to his Electoral District table and request a replacement ballot. “Why would they put a box in there if they don’t want us to fill it in?” he snarled angrily, storming back across the school library.
* * *
As I wrote last November, I’ve volunteered to work the polls since 2015. Most of the time, things are deadly dull. The past two Presidential elections were wild for several reasons — the divisiveness between the two…
