MY FIRST AND LAST DAY AS A POLL WORKER!

 NOVEMBER 3, 2020 I worked as a Poll Inspector for the Miami Dade County government.  Not having much experience I will say the team leadership, Miami Dade County Clerk, was excellent. The trouble shooter for all things related to data entry was on point- every issue a voter had that COULD BE FIXED WAS FIXED IMMEDIATELY!  But…

I suspect, many of the problems that I saw are a direct result of individuals voting via a 3rd party website. I learned that many of these sites charged fees that may have been around $2. Democrat fundraising???? I came to this conclusion when I noticed many young people who came to my desk to validate their ability to vote came up in the computer “May require assistance” (wording may not be exact) they did not. I doubt if an able bodied individual who was registering to vote would request help in voting.

Wrong address was the biggest problem- many people went to the voting wrong site. Because there was a neighboring precinct voting site on the opposite side of the street- also located in a church- this was an honest mistake. However, there were many who thought because of what “they” said they could vote anywhere. This has to do with messaging and the problem could have been solved if ads focused on the process of voting.

Messaging is a big problem because no one actually taught voters how to vote! 

1. The fact that people went to sites in which they had to pay to register and vote reveals a lack of knowledge. REGISTERING TO VOTE IS FREE. 
2. A person registered to vote on November 2nd, probably on one of those sites. And was surprised that he could not vote on November 3rd. There were a few other people who had registered to vote after the filing deadline
                  I SUSPECT MOST OF THESE PEOPLE WERE DEMOCRATS.
3. VOTING IN YOUR DISTRICT many people did not understand on election day you must report to your district to vote. We sent a few people to places that range from 15 to over 30 minutes away so that they could vote. I doubt if they voted.
4. People do not understand the difference between a primary versus general election, nor that there were elections more than just every 4 years. Unfortunately, I did not have time to educate these, mostly young, people. 
5. The most egregious case I saw was that of a young lady coming to vote for the first time but was not actually registered. She had registered through a 3rd party site and did not know her request had been flagged by the county. Apparently she was not of voting age when she was registered. Information was given to her and her mother on how to properly registered to vote by the county specialist and they went home. About an hour later the mother brought her other daughter in and the issue was the similar- her application was not processed!  This daughter had a confirmation email but the county still had not completed her request to be a registered voter. AGAIN, I suspect these were registered DEMOCRATS!

I blame all of this on messaging because people were bombarded with candidate ads but not process ads. I know the county kept reminding people that after early elections you had to vote in your precinct but who listens to county ads. Candidates said a quick “Get out and vote” comment as they campaigned but with the assumption that the hearer knew how and where to vote. 

This was my first time working as a Poll Worker and it will be my last. That was an unusually long day for in which I was a captive participant. We reported at 5:30AM for final setups and to be sworn in and at 7AM sharp the doors were open. I could walk to my house but I did not leave for a lunch break because if I did and it got busy there would not be enough people to handle the crowd. I maintained a positive attitude the entire day and was pleasant to everyone. The last two hours I wanted to slap one of my coworkers but I was read to snap at a coworker but was restrained from another coworker who reprimanded her.  I realized we were tired- we were all tired. The doors were shut promptly at 7pm and we began taking down everything that  we had set up the day before. I returned home around 8:30PM and was in bed by 10pm, this is very early for me!

Of the voters that came to my machine to validate their ability to vote:

• Many of the young people were Democrats
• I was happy to note a friend of mines son was registered Independent
• I did see quite a few first time voters that were registered as NO POLITICAL AFFILIATION and some Independents. 
• I saw quite a few Black and Hispanic Republicans
• Most of the people I validated were not Democrat, I think my machine validated about 180 voters. 

A NOTE ABOUT MAIL IN BALLOTS - Many, to many in my opinion, individuals who came into vote were flagged in the system because they received a mail-in-ballot. Most of the people said they had not received a ballot, some received it and either brought it in, we voided them and set them aside to be disposed of- or had disposed of them themselves. 

I believe in the end Donald J Trump will be our President. The Democrats shot themselves in the foot by creating these fund raising websites that register people to vote. I suspect this is how they funneled illegals into the system and a few minors. Had I not seen so many Black Republicans coming to vote in a Democrat district I would have not believed this so firmly. 

I am sure there is more I forgot but this is the gist of my first and last experience as a poll worker- it is not worth the fatigue!

In case you might ask- according to the book I received when I trained my pay for the one day will be $109 (I pray it is x2). I knew how much I was getting paid during training, I did not appreciate what I should have been paid until I actually worked.  I will be writing a letter to the board of elections.

 - Marsha L Randolph aka Nettieology