Comments on: Early Voting Problems Could Change Future Elections http://donklephant.com/2008/11/02/early-voting-problems-could-change-future-elections/ Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable. Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:03:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Rich Horton http://donklephant.com/2008/11/02/early-voting-problems-could-change-future-elections/comment-page-1/#comment-422493 Rich Horton Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:46:36 +0000 http://donklephant.com/?p=10203#comment-422493 How many polling stations are open for early voting? I've voted early twice in the past in both Missouri and Virginia. Both times you could only vote at the county courthouse and they had no dedicated staff for the purpose. Their were only a few other people voting, but we had to wait while they directed people to the correct office for marraige licenses or whatever. Now, the vast majority of election day polling places do regular business the rest of the year, so they are not necessarily viable as early voting venues, so we are swamping county courthouses for no good reason. Most of the people voting early now could just as well go to their assigned polling place on election day. Now, why urban voting precincts have so many troubles on election day is beyond me. When you consider that urban precincts usually have less voter turnout (and less % of eligible voters registered), they shouldn't have such consistent problems. I love hearing folks blame the GOP for the fact Democratic county election officials run such poor elections year after year. There is a documentary out there showing election day in some large urban area (Chicago?). Watching it I came to two conclusions: 1) the election officials in the film have a hard hard job, and 2) they were woefully underprepared for election day. Its funny how you dont see similar problem even in the most populous GOP counties. How many polling stations are open for early voting? I’ve voted early twice in the past in both Missouri and Virginia. Both times you could only vote at the county courthouse and they had no dedicated staff for the purpose. Their were only a few other people voting, but we had to wait while they directed people to the correct office for marraige licenses or whatever. Now, the vast majority of election day polling places do regular business the rest of the year, so they are not necessarily viable as early voting venues, so we are swamping county courthouses for no good reason. Most of the people voting early now could just as well go to their assigned polling place on election day.

Now, why urban voting precincts have so many troubles on election day is beyond me. When you consider that urban precincts usually have less voter turnout (and less % of eligible voters registered), they shouldn’t have such consistent problems.

I love hearing folks blame the GOP for the fact Democratic county election officials run such poor elections year after year. There is a documentary out there showing election day in some large urban area (Chicago?). Watching it I came to two conclusions: 1) the election officials in the film have a hard hard job, and 2) they were woefully underprepared for election day.

Its funny how you dont see similar problem even in the most populous GOP counties.

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