Cambridge voting is a big mess today
By Ron Newman - Tue, 11/04/2008 - 2:16pm.
You might think that a city full of smart, well-informed people would know how to run an election properly. You'd be wrong.
Secretary of State blames Cambridge for voter list glitch
Cambridge Politics blog on WickedLocal.com is full of reports
Voting OK In Cambridge After Morning Glitch: "Brian McNiff of the secretary of state’s office says the city failed to send to the printers all of their discs with pertinent voter information."
Has anybody else had their name dropped irregularly from the voting list?, on Central Square LiveJournal; has links to more coverage
A personal report from a friend of mine
Location
Cambridge
United States
42° 22' 31.4112" N, 71° 7' 6.5532" W
No problems at the Salvation Army this morning
Ward 3, Precinct 3 voting was quick, easy, and trouble free early this morning in Cambridge.
DPW was good this afternoon
I was on the list, had only one person to wait behind (and only because he needed special assistance).
Two minor nits: I did miss the sleeve for the ballot, especially since there were bubbles to mark on both sides. And the entrance to the yard was more poorly marked this time than usual: I knew exactly where it was from past experience, but I had to pause a moment when there did not appear to be an entrance to the yard.
People's Republic Will Cause a State Blip
If there ends up being any (unintentional) suppression/disenfranchisement of Cambridge voting, then it may very well register as a blip downwards in Obama's expected state-wide victory.
The People's Republic typically votes 90+% for the Democratic nominee for president, so this could eat into Obama's lead.
All farked up
First entry in the voting screwup sweepsteaks is Cambridge MA for using voter lists from 2004.
re: People's Rep
Screw Obama, we got Questions that be votin' on~!
I think you mean, a city
I think you mean, a city full of people who consider themselves smart and well informed.
Booths for voting hadn't been assembled carefully.
Booths for voting hadn't been assembled carefully. The shelf slipped down with the mere pressure of the marker on the ballot. The groove hadn't been attached to the metal peg that holds the shelf stable. The curtain had to be propped up by hand. The whole series of booths had been collapsing. Noone appeared to be available. All the poll workers appeared to be overwhelmed.
Where was this polling place?
Even today, the day after the election, something like that should be reported to your city's election commission, so they can be more careful and attentive next time.
Voting lists' headings need to be properly positioned.
Voting lists' headings need to be properly positioned. The streets names headings are center positioned one by one in the different sections down the page and difficult to scan, hard to eyeball from page to page. Instead the street names should be also indicated on the upper left and right corners of the sheets so poll workers can more speedily flip through the pages for people's addresses.