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DEL.ICIO.USLegends of the vote
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Voting in Georgia has reached mythical proportions — by many measures, including the legends that have jumped up on the Internet and elsewhere.
For instance, there’s the tale about cops forcing voters to scrape political bumper-stickers off their cars before they park near polling stations. No eyewitnesses on that one yet.
Nor did Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama really hold a surprise rally on the Marietta Square on Saturday. Which, with the Georgia-Florida game in the offing, would have been foolish.
But some of these legends are passed along with a good deal of authority. Ben George, a Democratic staffer for the state Senate, jotted down a few notes on his voting experience Friday. Sent a photo, too.
Voters, he said, were warned to turn their cell phones off — or else electronic voting machines would go haywire:
9:47: Got to the back of the line at Pryor Street polling place. Line was out of the building, up the MLK Street hill, and wrapped at that time almost all the way down Peachtree Street to Mitchell Street.
Ballparking it, I’d say that the composition of folks in my sight were 70 percent or more African American, and median age around 30 to 35. Stunned at the number of young folks.
11 a.m.: Standing atop the street vents next to the building. Smell is a bit dank. Shortly thereafter, a poll worker makes her way up the line, making sure everyone knows that to vote on site they must be registered in Fulton. One person who is registered in Cobb leaves the line. It was the only person I saw leave the line the entire time.
11:50 a.m. “Students for Obama” bus parks and lets people out — I think they got in line. A man hands out flyers advertising a “voter special” at a local restaurant. Then two women dressed in Dentyne shirts and caps pass out free gum samples to folks in line.
At the switchbacks, a poll worker tells us to “turn off all cell phones, BlackBerries, BlueBerries.” She really had her speech down pat. She said that they had discovered that cell phone usage caused the voting machines to slow or stall.
When in the auditorium, a poll worker would occasionally make an announcement asking folks to be quiet so voters could concentrate. One announcement included a statement that claimed one person had shut down the machines for two hours by turning on his cell phone.
Noon-ish: The food court set up a lunch stand in the atrium. Fellow line-mates saved space for those who went to fetch food.
1 p.m.: We have to show I.D. The man in front of me, and the woman behind, both have [cards] that say “I.D. only.”
1:55-ish: Voted, and savored the experience. Wore my medal (the “I voted” sticker”) out.
Just to be clear: Voters are required to turn off their cell phones before casting a ballot, but there is absolutely no reason to suggest that the devices would interfere with the operation of electronic voting machines.
This comes from Rob Simms, the deputy secretary of state, who said that the intent of the law is to make sure that the voter is free from outside interference or intimidation. Also, it’s harder for poll workers to direct human traffic while you’re chatting with your BFF.
Photo credit: Ben George
Comments
By Deborah
November 2, 2008 1:27 AM | Link to this
I’m a poll worker in Fulton Co. I worked the general primary in July and will be working on Tuesday. We found that cellphones and other similar devices DO effect the machines that hold the voter lists and make the ballots. The cellphones would slow the machines down to a crawl. We got that information from the technical support people for the machines. So the Sec of State folks are once again speaking out of their butts. What else is new.
By Whitaf
November 2, 2008 8:37 AM | Link to this
It is interesting that people are being asked to turn off their cell phones, especially since they are now capable of recording the behavior of poll workers, etc. during the voting process. Not that I believe in conspiracies, but it is too convenient in this highly divisive election to not allow people to record the process.
By Laura
November 4, 2008 12:57 AM | Link to this
So, what’s the deal?
Are people going to be asked to turn off cell phones (or ipods) while on line?
and
Is it accurate that these devices interfere with voting machines?