One Blind Man's View of the Elephant
Sep. 12th, 2006 10:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davidschrothI spent the day acting as an election judge in Ward 6 Precinct 6 in Minneapolis. That's on the other side of Lake Street from where ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mizzlaurajean and I used to live.
The scheduling of election judges could use some work - we were overstaffed (seven judges) from 0600 until 1400, and understaffed (five judges) from 1400 until 2000.
From where I sat, it appears that another immigrant group is finding the traditional path into political assimilation into American society. We had 183 voters today. 53 of those voters registered at the polls, and the large bulk of those people appeared to be either Somali, or young adults who were clearly supporters of Mr. Ellison.
From listening to the voters, it appeared that a very large number of them were not so much single-issue voters as they were single-candidate voters.
I found it encouraging. Many (probably most) of these first time voters seemed to be very unclear on the entire concept of voting. And we voting judges were not really in a position to make things clearer. But my unwarranted optimism is certain that most of them, having voted once, will continue to vote in the future. And I think that's probably a good thing for American society.
On another topic, I'm still bemused at the arbitrary criteria for what documents can be used to establish residency for the purpose of registering to vote. Why is a current utility bill accepted, but a current copy of the lease isn't? Once again, we turned away a too-large number of young, would-be voters, who had moved into the precinct within the last two weeks, and hadn't yet received their first utility bill from any utility. Most difficult was the young student who brought in his credit card statement, and could clearly show us the payments he makes for all of his utility bills (cable TV, electricity, water & sewer - you name it, he could point it out), but couldn't actually produce a bill from any of these utilities. It's even more mind-boggling when you realize that Minnesota is actually far, far ahead of most other states in allowing people to register and vote.
And finally, many, many thanks tominnehaha B & K, who dropped by late in the evening, bearing pie. It's a measure of how fried I was at that point that when they asked me which of the two pieces they'd brought I wanted, I totally spaced out on the default David answer of "Both". But the pie was both delicious and greatly appreciated.
mizzlaurajean and I used to live.The scheduling of election judges could use some work - we were overstaffed (seven judges) from 0600 until 1400, and understaffed (five judges) from 1400 until 2000.
From where I sat, it appears that another immigrant group is finding the traditional path into political assimilation into American society. We had 183 voters today. 53 of those voters registered at the polls, and the large bulk of those people appeared to be either Somali, or young adults who were clearly supporters of Mr. Ellison.
From listening to the voters, it appeared that a very large number of them were not so much single-issue voters as they were single-candidate voters.
I found it encouraging. Many (probably most) of these first time voters seemed to be very unclear on the entire concept of voting. And we voting judges were not really in a position to make things clearer. But my unwarranted optimism is certain that most of them, having voted once, will continue to vote in the future. And I think that's probably a good thing for American society.
On another topic, I'm still bemused at the arbitrary criteria for what documents can be used to establish residency for the purpose of registering to vote. Why is a current utility bill accepted, but a current copy of the lease isn't? Once again, we turned away a too-large number of young, would-be voters, who had moved into the precinct within the last two weeks, and hadn't yet received their first utility bill from any utility. Most difficult was the young student who brought in his credit card statement, and could clearly show us the payments he makes for all of his utility bills (cable TV, electricity, water & sewer - you name it, he could point it out), but couldn't actually produce a bill from any of these utilities. It's even more mind-boggling when you realize that Minnesota is actually far, far ahead of most other states in allowing people to register and vote.
And finally, many, many thanks to
minnehaha B & K, who dropped by late in the evening, bearing pie. It's a measure of how fried I was at that point that when they asked me which of the two pieces they'd brought I wanted, I totally spaced out on the default David answer of "Both". But the pie was both delicious and greatly appreciated.
