My takeaway from being a poll worker in Gwinnett County Georgia yesterday. Gwinnett is a large Minority Majority

[RamblingRose]

county in the Atlanta suburbs & recently flipped from Ruby Red to Blue.

The precinct location I had been working was changed to a new location 3 miles away from the previous one. The vast majority of voters said they were not notified of the location change and said they found the precinct after going to 3 - 4 other locations (where their neighbors voted). Another large group of voters said they received a letter in the mail notifying them of the location change MARCH 11th, the day before the election!!! Even I was unaware of the location change till a week before the election.

Voters would ask if this is where they would vote in November & we would tell them to check the Secretary of State's website before the election(s).

Fortunately, this is a middle/upper class neighborhood where the majority of people have cars.

Is this some kind of trickery leading up to November & the municipal elections??!

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Thank you for your service

I and a couple of my children have worked as election workers over the years. It is a valuable service and I thank you.

[mopinko]

16. every one shd do it at least once.

it’s a great experience.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

19. At the request of the local election administrator, I have been the election judge for the GOP primary once

This was under the old system where there were separate GOP and Democratic primaries in my county and before we had county wide voting and voting centers. The gop voters loved to use the conceal carry permits to vote which slowed things down. If you use a drivers license, you can scan the license and check the voter in faster.

My youngest worked the 2020 election and caught COVID when there were 19+ voters come in without masks in the first half hour. It was an early and mild case. I managed not to catch COVID from her because we were very careful.

Working as an election worker is a good thing to do

[mopinko]

20. i signed up to do it this time, but

i quit doing it in 2012, cuz it was too exhausting. i’ve been doing better and thought i cd hack it, but it took me 2 days to get over th 4 hr training, so i bailed.
i offered to work as a floater or a poll watcher, but i got offered the job i rly wanted- the care and feeding of the judges.

[Cheezoholic]

2. Thanx for the info

The repuke party may be on the verge of imploding and I think they've been in hostile takeover mode since 2020. It's going to get nasty I have a feeling.

[BaronChocula]

3. From crisis to opportunity

Does this at least inform how more people need to know how to independently check the SOS site for updated info? I hope so. And thanks for your service!

[LeftInTX]

4. Locations are dependent on the facility hosting the election.

Reasons facilities close: Construction, refusal by the facility etc.

Also elections depts can seek other facilities if there are problems with the previous facility (not enough electrical outlets, not enough space, issues with people at the facility, parking issues etc)

So, if there was a temporary issue at the old location, (constructions, large meeting etc) there is a chance the old location will be used in November.


Another reason: There may have been a shortage of election workers and they may have needed to combine facilities. (States have laws regarding this. This what they do in Texas)

[Deminpenn]

9. That's correct

Spent 4 years as a pollworker in PA and polling places do change for various mundane reasons. When I started we voted in the gym of a local school. The school subsequently decided it no longer wanted to serve as a polling place because it disrupted the school day/school calendar. Our poll moved down the block to a local church hall that ultimately hosted 2 other nearby precincts along with mine.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. One of my cousins lives in Duluth in that county

She had been a poll worker for the early voting period during the 2020 general elections. I'll have to touch base with her to see if she ran into that. I would agree that they are usually on the ball in that county based on her updating us on that 2020 voting!

Sometimes you do have issues with facilities and that might even include whether they are ADA compliant/accessible.

[Wild blueberry]

6. Keep telling your voters to check their registration status, polling place, and so on

I'm a poll worker in Wisconsin, and that's what we tell people. (We're in northern WI and small enough that it's the same polling place.) Every person should do what they can to ensure a fair election November 5.

[calimary]

11. It helps to think of it as a giant newsroom.

When you’re in one of those, you’re ALWAYS watching for updates.

[DownriverDem]

7. I vote absentee/mail in

in Michigan. We can track our ballots. Also we now have 9 day early voting too. Our current state government is on the voters side. It's clear that red states are not on the voters side.

[LiberalFighter]

8. In our county voters can go to the county election board website to check for the voting location.

There might be an app but I don't know.

[momta]

10. I keep meaning to make this an OP, but...

I'm an election worker in Colorado. (This year we started calling ourselves "Poll Trolls".) And I'm convinced that our state should be a model for the country. But Colorado actually WANTS people to vote. I'm suspicious that that is not the case in states like Georgia and Texas. (My brother works the elections in Texas.)

We have vote-by-mail, but we also have election sites open for about a week and half up until election day. One of the first things we are told as election workers is, "Never tell anyone they can't vote. There's always a way." People can vote at any site in their county. Even if they're out of county they can vote a statewide ballot that excludes local issues. This happens a lot on election day when people can't get to their home county in time.

Almost everything is done in bipartisan teams. We can't even enter a vote center until we have a bipartisan team. Signature verification, spot audits, ballot sorting...everything is done with at least two members of opposite parties.

IMHO, every state should adopt this model. We get great voter participation, and our elections are safe and efficient.

On edit: I know other (blue) states have similar models. I think we've all learned from each other. I just wish the red states would actually ENCOURAGE people to vote.

[DENVERPOPS]

12. There are sooo many ways the Red States

tamper with the voting.

While in office, Biden should sponsor a bill to make tampering of voting a Federal Felony Offense.
Then say: including: And list the ways they already have been proven to attempt to alter the voting.
Their list is long............this time they will stop at nothing.......

And DeJoy is still busy at work continuing his attacks......

[raccoon]

13. Thank you for your very informative post. And your work.

Sounds like somebody is pulling their usual tricks.

[jaxexpat]

14. Georgia is a good-old-boy state. The rules are different in GOB states.

They would put a polling place for "certain citizens" behind the target at the local shooting range if it suited their mood. Unless one has experience with such unimaginable and cruel absurdities, it is very hard to relate. That's why a congress of civilized people passed the voting rights act almost 60 years ago.. That's also why so many of the "conservatives" fought so long and hard to overturn it. The rotten bastards long for Jim Crow days. It's just that simple.

[onetexan]

15. Sounds like the RW have already started their shenanigans

[ForgedCrank]

17. Ours changes

frequently. It's only a matter of taking 2 minutes to look it up or make a phone call to see where the location is.
We get no notifications, and I'm not sure how it would be partisan trickery since moving the location affects all voters, not just Democrats.
To add, I'm really not sure what prompts the moving so much. Our voting locations are almost always at a local school or Churches, none that have closed or anything over the years.

[TNNurse]

18. Thanks for your hard work.

I grew up in Gwinnett County, graduated from Norcross High School in 1967. Have not lived there in a long time and have not visited since 2017. Hope the honest people can do something about this voting suppression before November.

It is too dense in population for me.

[progressoid]

21. Is this some kind of trickery leading up to November & the municipal elections?

It's just the tip of the iceberg.

I heard today that there currently over 50 lawsuits trying to take away voter rights. They know the only way to win in some areas is to deny access to vote.