Election Preparedness

There is one thing on which there is bi-partisan – indeed, non-partisan – agreement: the voter turnout on Election Day will be of historic proportions.

Unless you are certain you can spend however long it takes (remember Ohio: up to 12 hours in the cold and rain…) for you to wait in line to vote on November 4, apply for a mail-in (absentee) ballot or vote early in person, if either option is available to you .

Polling places were overwhelmed during the primaries this year with a record 56 million voters, 23 million more than ever before. Many millions of voters have been registered since then, with an increasing and intense interest in this presidential election. Two-thirds of voters will encounter new equipment, and we can expect more instances of all-too-common flawed machinery.

Want an idea of what could await you? The Kane County (IL) Clerk projects, “Using 2004 presidential election turnout, adding an estimated 10 percent higher number of voters for 2008, and analyzing voting habits data compiled by the electronic eSlate voting machines, election officials estimate by 7 p.m. on Nov. 4, some 11,802 people will be standing in line waiting to vote, some of them held over from the 8,412 who were waiting to vote an hour earlier…[T]here are about 50,000 voters in this coming election who have never voted in Kane County before. Another 37,000 or so have voted before, but this will be their first time on the eSlate machines. That means not only the number of voters is higher, but the time it takes them to cast their ballot could exceed the average of six minutes the clerk's office has determined.”

Here are some of the issues that have a direct impact on wait times for voting:

• An insufficient number or allocation of voting machines, voting privacy booths (where optical scanning machines are used) and poll workers;
• the voter check-in bottleneck (Will your precinct use laptops or hard-copy voter rolls? Where is your correct polling place?);
• how your polling place will handle:
  • the verification process when voters' names do not appear on the registration rolls,
• challenges to voter eligibility,
• the confirmation of voter identification, if required, and
• campaign (candidate or issue)-related attire or paraphernalia;
• the competency of poll worker and county election staff training;
• the length of the ballot ( Colorado 's is the longest in 96 years and the longest of any in the country);
• whether your jurisdiction allows paper ballots as an option;
• whether your polling place is well-prepared and opens on time;
• effective, real-time communication, if needed, between your precinct's on-site supervisor and the responsible local election official(s);
• adequate, timely and legally appropriate systems for replenishing paper and provisional ballot shortages as well as the repair of malfunctioning electronic and other machinery; and
• (especially new) voters' questions about the voting process and new voting equipment.

If you choose to vote at your precinct, or early voting by mail or in person is not available as an option for you - avoid going to the polls at peak hours: before 9:00 a.m. or after 4:00 p.m. , if possible.

In many if not most precincts, the lines will be extremely long. The result, unfortunately: many disenfranchised voters who become frustrated or, more likely, are unable to stay long enough to cast their ballots because of work, family and other obligations.