Pollworker Training LA Style

[diva77]

someone sent this to me -- makes for interesting reading:

here are my thoughts on what I experienced at pollworker training today

-average age of trainees was 70
-an petite white-haired elderly man looked like he was going to cry when the
speaker began talking about the inkavoteplus. The speaker paused for a second and said "Is anything wrong" and
the man said he was confused and the speaker said "we don't have time, we have to keep
moving along"
-the woman next to me said that she was going to have a root canal in Tijuana
next week because she couldn't afford to have the work done here. I asked her how she
found someone down there and she said he used to be based in LA. She's an election inspector.
hope she doesn't have to be in Tijuana on election day
- the first training film featured a man driving a car while discussing
procedures at the polling place. I was afraid he was going to have an accident. The music in the
film was at peak volume so that you could barely here the what the man was saying. It was
some generic thing that sounded like bumpers from the WAVE. I think they try to
hypnotize people at the training. I think it's the same music they use when they put you
on hold when you call the RR/CC number. I listen for subliminal messages next time.
- there seemed to be unusual emphasis on having everyone repeat what time the
polls open and what time they close. It was almost like a gregorian chant with
antiphonal responses:

Trainer: What time do the polls open?
attendees: 7 am

Trainer: and what time do the polls close?
attendees: 8pm


They must have had the audience repeat this routine 20 times. Meanwhile, most
people
left without any idea of how to run the inkavoteplus
-the training film for the inkavoteplus shows an old lady and a young lady
setting up the inkavote plus. They look like they're struggling even though I think the old
lady looks like she might be a retired gym teacher. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few
slipped discs from this job. And by the way, these things go home with the inspectors
for days (they never said how many exactly).
=they said there would be 2 ballot readers (inkavotepluses) at locations with 3
precincts.
-they said the inkavote plus won't count the ballots but they're having people
run a zero tape on the machine at beginning of day and having voters deposit ballot
throught the scanner. I implore everyone to not run their ballot through the scanner, but
rather to put it directly into the slot in the black box under the inkavoteplus garbage on
top.
-they said provisional ballots are not to be deposited into inkavoteplus. Seems
like it shouldn't matter if the thing isn't counting votes. Why shouldn't a provisional
voter be entitled to have the thing tell them if they under or overvoted. made me
suspect they're counting votes with those blasted things.
-the trainer nonchalantly mentioned 3 types of workers at the polls: regular
citizens, employees from rr/cc offices, and corporate pollworkers.

CORPORATE POLLWORKERS??? what the hell's zat??? are they from Halliburton? what corporations??? I
don't think this isa very good idea
-the other antiphonal chant was that "voting never stops" so if you have a
technical problem, you just deposit the ballots in the unscanned slot in the blackbox.
-interestingly enough, with all their faith in these computers for voting, the
powerpt presentation on their laptop froze up at least 3 times during the training
session

I've never been a pollworker before. I can see from what goes on at the
precinct that it would be so easy to take those ballots and just count them on the spot. All
this machinery coming between me and my vote is exasperating. And if you have a technical
problem, the number you call isn't even a county number.

They stressed that no matter what, all work must cease at polling place by
9:30pm and all the materials must be taken to the collection center at this time.

It's called the inkavote "enhancement" but to me, it's just another way for
someone to gladhandle your votes and mine so that they can have total control over the
results if they so desire.

Sincerely,

(name removed)

[tblue]

1. My training

The one point they hammered home was DO NOT offer a paper ballot option. We are an ELECTRONIC voting county. People can vote on paper, but they have to know that they can request it.

NO ONE is to be discouraged from voting. NO ONE. If they are not on the rolls, they may have to vote provisionally, but they must be allowed to vote. If they are not registered to vote in this county, their vote won't count, but you don't have to tell them that. There is to be no arguing, no friction, no denying the right to vote.

You may NOT ask for ID, unless it's indicated in the sign-in book (for those who did not show ID when they registered (?). Some of the newer pollworker trainees had a problem with that. They thought ID should be required.

Many seniors at my training, too, and almost all were pollworker veterans.

The shell of the e-voting machines are delivered to the polling place from who knows where. They will just magically appear. The guts are in the hands of the lead worker for a couple days before Election Day also.

There is a paper printer that records every vote. You can look at the printing to see if it records your vote property.