A Tale of Two Precincts (or, How I Spent Election Day)

[Mr. Peabody]

This was the year that I finally got involved in the political process and actually volunteered for a campaign. Initially, I volunteered to be a precinct captain for the Obama campaign in my precinct and attended precinct captain training. However, one of the campaign volunteers asked me if I would be willing to work as a voter protection attorney at one of the poll sites. I agreed and after a couple of days of training, I was assigned to a poll on a different side of town. Basically, my job was to make sure that no election laws were violated at the polling site. Plus, the big thing for the Obama campaign was voter access. They really stressed that our goal was to make sure that everyone that was eligible to vote was able to vote.

I arrived at my polling site at 6:30 am and caught a glimpse of what was to come. The poll workers were running behind in setting up the polling site. The poll did open on time, but the poll workers were not ready and did not have their paperwork organized. In fact, the first few voters (all Democrats) received Republican receipts for the caucus. As soon as I realized what was happening, I addressed it as best I could.

From the beginning, our poll had long lines. I timed how long it took for voters to actually cast their ballots and it was never less than 45 minutes and at one point, got up to two hours. I kept requesting that the poll judges call Bexar County for help, but Bexar County never sent anyone else. A large part of the problem was that the voters didn't know which precinct they were in and the poll workers would have to search for their names in four different voters lists for the four precincts that were voting at our site. Plus, many of the voters had recently moved and had to fill out change of residence forms, which backed up the line. We had quite a few people that waited for an hour or two in line, only to find out that they were at the wrong site. I think Bexar County needs to find a way to streamline the process a little more. The delays and confusion no doubt resulted in many people not voting. We had quite a few leave our site in frustration before casting a ballot.

We did have a few incidents arise at our site that weren't related to the long lines. There were at least five people, that I know of, who were turned away, even though they should have been allowed to vote. I did intercede on behalf of those that I saw and they did get to vote, but I can't say that I caught everyone.

We had one of the Hillary precinct captains come into our poll site decked out in full Hillary regalia (buttons, t-shirt, and hat), which is a violation of the 100 foot rule (no electioneering within 100 feet of the site). I asked her what she was doing and she said she was merely looking for the nearest bathroom. I showed her where the nearest bathroom was (nowhere near the polling location) and she left. Minutes later, after I was tied up handling another problem, I saw the same woman going through the line of people waiting to vote, asking them why they were supporting Barack Obama. I got the poll judge's attention and we threw the lady out. As a precinct captain, I'm sure she knew she wasn't supposed to be doing that. This was actually my first of many encounters with Clinton campaign volunteers throughout the day.

The rule was that as a poll watcher, I had to stay at the polling site for five hours before I could leave. If I left any earlier than that, I could not re-enter. After my five hours was up, I went outside to eat my lunch because it was such a beautiful day.

While I was outside, eating my lunch and talking to the other Obama supporters, the Hillary precinct captain walked by. As she was passing, I was making a joke that I wasn't going to support Obama because I recently learned that his middle name was Hussein. The Hillary precinct captain turned to me and said "His middle name is Muhammad."

I didn't know if she was joking or being serious, so I just laughed and said "I don't think that's correct." She then said, "No, it's true. It's Muhammad." I said "No, it's Hussein. It would actually be better for him if his middle name was Muhammad." Her response was "Well, either way, he's a Muslim." This was the ing precinct captain for the Clinton campaign! I said, "No, he's actually a Christian." and went on to explain how he was raised by his Christian mother and grandparents. She then said, "Well, then why did he get sworn in on the Koran?" She was being ing serious. I just shook my head and decided to end the conversation.

About an hour or two later, I could hear someone shouting "Go Hillary!" near the line of those people waiting to vote. All of a sudden this small young guy wearing a Hillary t-shirt and buttons comes into the polling site yelling "Go Hillary!" I went up to him and asked him if he was voting. This guy was one of these little militant sexuals and his response was "I early voted, what the do you care?" in a y-high-school-girl-at ude kind of way. I identified myself as the poll watcher and told him that he shouldn't be in the poll wearing his garb, especially if he wasn't voting. He said "I'm just looking for a trash can to throw this stuff away" as he showed me a handful of chicken bones and wadded-up napkin. I told him "That doesn't matter, you cannot be in here while people are voting" He then said, "Well, you take it then!" and shoved his greasy chicken bones into my hand and walked out. I had half a mind to beat the out of that little gay er. But, honestly, if he would have kicked my ass (think "The Breakup" here), I would have never gotten over it. So rather than take the chance of destroying my ego forever, I refrained.

And even though the rules say you cannot wear any campaign buttons, caps, t-shirts, etc. into the site, I wasn't a Nazi in enforcing the rule. For the most part, if people just had a button on, I let it slide. It's nice to see people interested in the election and so long as they weren't campaigning, I saw no reason to call them out over a button. Plus, we were all so busy, I didn't have time to examine everyone who walked in. In fact, I even had had an Obama supporter complain to me that someone was wearing a Hillary button in the site and it wasn't allowed. I explained to him that some people had Obama buttons on and I let it go. Again, I didn't have the time to look at everyone, just those that called attention to themselves. And the only two I had to confront were the two mentioned above.

At some point during the day, I was interviewed by the BBC regarding my support for Obama. They asked me how I thought the Rezko scandal would affect the election. I told them that I wasn't sure that enough people kept up with the news for these stories to make much of a difference. I explained that if the story were to gain traction over a prolonged period of time, it would obviously affect the voters perceptions, but at it is now, I wasn't sure what affect it would have.

After the interview, some of the Obama campaign people asked me what reporter meant by Rezko. I was taken aback that these campaign volunteers didn't know about the Rezko story. I had to explain to them what it was and about how the guy is currently on trial. Many of them had never heard of the story. I was disappointed in them. I mean, if you have done any research on Obama you should have come across this story at least a few times. It's only been in the news for five or six months now, if not longer.

Anyway, at around six, I had to leave the polling site I was assigned to so that I could get back to my precinct to caucus. As I arrived, I saw two Hillary volunteers standing outside and some Obama volunteers. As I walked past the Hillary supporters, they asked "Voting Hillary?" I wasn't wearing any Obama gear, so there was no reason for them to assume I was for Obama. I told them "Sorry, I already voted for Obama." Later one of the Obama people in my precinct explained to me that the two women were the Hillary captains for that site.

So the doors open at the causus site and people start filing in. As people were filing in, I found myself standing by the door with one of the Clinton captains. In an attempt to extend the olive branch, I told her "I am supporting Obama in the primary, but if Hillary wins, I'll definitely support her in the general election." She didn't even look at me as I was saying this and then, without even turning to acknowledge me replied "I'm not supporting Obama if he wins." I didn't respond to that comment. I, once again, tried to find some common ground with her and said "Man, it's been a long day for me, what time did you get out here?" Her response "Around eleven." So then I said, "Well, at least it was a beautiful day to be outside." Her response "It's going to be better when Hillary wins." (To her credit, she was correct in her prediction). At this point I was thinking "Well, you too," and walked away.

As the caucuses started, we had two in our building, I approached the only Obama volunteer in the other caucus and asked her if she needed help. She was the temporary chair and was supposed to start the caucus. She said she didn't know what to do. I told her that I had some materials that would help her figure it out. I gave her my caucus packet from the Obama for America campaign and told her to follow the caucus cheat sheet that was inside. The aforementioned Hillary supporter was in that particular caucus and was the temporary secretary. She saw me give the Obama packet to the other Obama volunteer and said, "You can't have that here. No campaign logos or anything like that are allowed in here." I told her that was not the law. The 100 foot rule only applies to the primary. In the caucus, you can have posters, buttons, etc. The whole point of the caucus is the open advocacy for your candidate. There is supposed to be electioneering in the caucus site. That how it works. Her response "No, you can't have that here because of the hundred foot rule." I explained to her that the rule didn't apply to caucuses and used the Iowa caucus as an example. She said, "No, I know the rules. It's you that doesn't know the rules." It was like arguing with a ing five year old, so I walked away.

Anyway, as the caucuses started it became apparent that the all-knowing Clinton captain didn't know the rules, because she had the Obama volunteer ask me if I could leave my caucus momentarily to explain the caucus procedures and rules to them. I obliged, but at this point I was ing pissed and thinking about how it was these idiots that were supporting Hillary.

Obviously, I overreacted in my thinking and Clinton supporters were soon redeemed thanks to this lady at my caucus. She and I had this great conversation about the election, our candidates and how interesting the entire process was. We must have talked for thirty minutes while we were waiting to sign the election sheet. She was a Clinton supporter and made a good case for her candidate.

When all was said and done, it was a good day and I learned quite a bit. Seeing people actually wait it out in line for up to two hours to vote was inspiring (some walked away, but not many). Seeing a couple of hundred people show up at 7:00 pm on a Tuesday (during a Spurs game, no less) to caucus told me that I don't give the general public enough credit for giving a about their government. Seeing the Clinton campaign volunteers in person, taught me that her campaign, for the most part, is comprised of combative assholes who think their ignorance can be masked by abrasiveness (there are some exceptions). And seeing the Obama volunteers looks of bewilderment as I spoke of Rezko taught me that the criticisms of Obama supporters are, at least in part, justified. , if the campaign volunteers didn't know about Rezko, what does that say about the average Obama voter?

[clambake]

of a day. thanks for your commitment. would have been better if you hadn't reminded me of this countries collective intelligence.....or lack of.