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My experience as a poll worker in Pennsylvania

portal.drewdevault.com

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Re: My experience as a poll worker in Pennsylvania

#191

Post by NoodleIncident »

sjs382 wrote: post #104
kev009 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since it is less incendiary to discuss, what if someone was wearing a Rastafarian style hat in places marijuana bills were on the ballot, is this a conflict?

To avoid the religion argument, let's switch it to a shirt with a big marijuana leaf on it. In that case, yes. Unless the person is a voter in the act of voting.

I didn't think voters were allowed to have political clothing either? I've heard of some voters asked to turn masks and shirts inside out while they're at the polls.

Re: My experience as a poll worker in Pennsylvania

#192

Post by NoodleIncident »

throwaway377383 wrote: post #170
mmastrac wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a logo that is more strongly associated with one political party than another, being worn by someone who is presumably armed and in a position of authority. If you cannot see why this is a problem, I don't think I can explain it any more.

>It's a logo that is more strongly associated with one political party than another As long as you'll admit that BLM falls under this same logic, and should similarly be banned, then you're being consistent. If not, you're being hypocritical.

Of course! Unlike the other imaginary hypocrisy in this thread, I actually saw someone on reddit say this exactly. They were just there to vote, and they were asked to turn their BLM mask inside out while they were there.

Re: My experience as a poll worker in Pennsylvania

#193

Post by tehlike »

juanbyrge wrote: post #4

While reading this I got a sense that all of these anachronistic processes would not exist if voting would be moved online. So many of the contentious issues we see here (mail-in ballots arriving late, machines not printing receipts, etc..) would simply not exist. Online voting seems like such a simpler approach.

Mandatory xkcd: https://xkcd.com/2030/

Re: My experience as a poll worker in Pennsylvania

#195

Post by nostromo »

maxerickson wrote: post #138
dx87 wrote: post #15

This part seems incorrect: > There are strict laws regulating police and poll workers while the polls are open. Police are not allowed within 100 feet of the polling location, unless they're actively voting or there on official business at the request of the election board. Additionally, anyone working at the polls in an official capacity is not allowed to wear any clothing with political messaging. One of the office…

It's not just the flag, it's a stylized flag blended with the oath. Which is much more political than a plain flag. A simpler example might be a flag with 52 stars. It's blatantly political, even though it would likely be harder to notice than the hoodie I looked up. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/119415827607659191/ (whether that's the exact same hoodie, who knows, but it matches the description close enough)

He was still wrong though. The ban isn't on anything that might seem vaguely political... gay pride flag, blue line flag, trans flag, UAW hat, etc.

They just can't support a candidate or political party.

Re: My experience as a poll worker in Pennsylvania

#196

Post by throwaway377383 »

ddevault wrote: post #69
dx87 wrote: post #15

This part seems incorrect: > There are strict laws regulating police and poll workers while the polls are open. Police are not allowed within 100 feet of the polling location, unless they're actively voting or there on official business at the request of the election board. Additionally, anyone working at the polls in an official capacity is not allowed to wear any clothing with political messaging. One of the office…

Author here. The military is a political entity, and different voters have different opinions on. It's better to err on the side of caution when acting in an official capacity for the election, especially when your organization (the police) are the subject of ballot measures this year. A tap on the shoulder and a polite comment seem well justified to me, and another poll worker agreed.

You just publicly admitted to breaking Philadelphia election code.

>Author here. The military is a political entity, and different voters have different opinions on.

The USA is a political entity that different voters have different opinions on. The city, state, school district, utility district, sanitst district, etc. are all political entities that different voters have different opinions on.

The specific guidelines you linked on electioneering do not ban flag t-shirts, or anything military related (the military is not a candidate, campaign, or political party, and is strictly apolitical).

It's unconscionable that election officials are publicly admitting to breaking election code in 2020.

Re: My experience as a poll worker in Pennsylvania

#197

Post by markn951 »

tgb wrote: post #129
giantg2 wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real question is, what department allows their on-duty officers to wear non-uniform clothing articles for routine public assignments?

I also worked polls in Philadelphia and we were also visited by non-uniform cops at the end of the day to do the (critical!) step of picking up the paper ballots. We got their badge numbers and names of course, but it was a little sketchy. The one who came by midday was uniformed, though.

Here in Boston our officers were in uniform all day but they told us they drop off all the ballots out of uniform in their own personal vehicles, he surmised to be less obvious a target. I thought it was an interesting approach, perhaps not super effective but interesting.

Re: My experience as a poll worker in Pennsylvania

#198

Post by tgb »

giantg2 wrote: post #144
tgb wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also worked polls in Philadelphia and we were also visited by non-uniform cops at the end of the day to do the (critical!) step of picking up the paper ballots. We got their badge numbers and names of course, but it was a little sketchy. The one who came by midday was uniformed, though.

Very interesting. Is it possible they were constables? They are very hit or miss, on uniforms and other aspects. Not sure if Philly has constables or not.

I recall that the word "constable" was used in the big voter rights posters we had to put up, but frankly don't know any more than that.

Re: My experience as a poll worker in Pennsylvania

#199

Post by giantg2 »

tgb wrote: post #198
giantg2 wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Very interesting. Is it possible they were constables? They are very hit or miss, on uniforms and other aspects. Not sure if Philly has constables or not.

I recall that the word "constable" was used in the big voter rights posters we had to put up, but frankly don't know any more than that.

Part of the constable's duties is to open and close the polls. I'm not sure if they're required to be there the whole time or not. Our's is usually there. Sometimes he is in uniform, and sometimes not.

Re: My experience as a poll worker in Pennsylvania

#200

Post by f154hfds »

koolba wrote: post #77
ddevault wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your party affiliation is a matter of public record, and you're not required to vote for your party. Not really a big deal IMO. Any attempt by the election workers to suppress your vote based on your answer would be trivially detected by a number of security checks.

You're dodging the allegation. It's not that it's not public information or that it must dictate the vote. It's that there's no reason for the poll worker to ask or know what you party registration is prior to sending to you machine A or machine B. At best it's a non-issue, at worst it's an opportunity to steer voters to a broken machine. Any comparison of total turnout v.s. historic turnout based upon political part…

Pennsylvania voter here - in 2018 they asked me for my party affiliation and then remarked (jokingly) on the fact that my affiliation was an extreme minority for the district. I was a bit put off by this. 2020 and a few districts over however, totally secret somehow. No idea what changed.
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