Election day for an elections judge
Hanszen senior Abbie Ryan speaks about the adventures of running Rice's precinct during the presidential election
Issue date: 11/7/08 Section: Election '08
Rice Thresher: So how did you become an election judge? Abbie Ryan: Last year I worked as a clerk and the judge, alternate judge and the other clerk all graduated last year so I was the only one who had worked in elections so …. So I e-mailed the Democratic Party and said, "I'd like to do this for Rice, Precinct 361."
RT: What does that responsibility entail?
R: Hiring clerks is a big one, and we had myself, the alternate judge, who I had to find, and then four election clerks and had to set up training for the four of us: myself, the alternate judge and two clerks had to go to poll worker training where we learned how to set up machines, what to do if this or that happens. Then myself and the alternate judge had to go to an election law class and learn about stuff you wouldn't think about like where to put distance markers and what it means that you can't wear an Obama shirt to come vote; you can't be on your cell phone when you're voting; you can't take pictures really close to the voting booths; what a poll watcher is, random stuff like that that you wouldn't think about. We also had to take all of our computers and poll tapes to the precinct county headquarters where they count all the ballots at the end of the night. So it was basically from 6:15 in the morning to eight at night doing election stuff. I was there the entire time. I did not leave the RMC for that time.
RT: Did anyone come in with election paraphernalia?
AR: There were a couple of people from Ellen Cohen and Barack Obama handing out these big door hanger-type things to people saying "Remember to vote," and people would bring those in, but you can't bring campaign paraphernalia in. We had to tell a lot of people to hide it or put it away. They were all really confused, and thought they had done something wrong, but that was the one thing we had. Some people showed up with a shirt and put on a sweatshirt, and one girl didn't have another shirt so she had to hold her purse over her chest.
RT: What were the numbers at the polls yesterday?
AR: Six-hundred and thirty-eight voted Tuesday, which doesn't include early voting or voting by mail, which is between 250 and 300. So about 900 total from this precinct.
RT: That's pretty good.
AR: It's okay. It was a lot less than I expected, actually. Considering that for the past four years we've had people registering freshmen to vote during O-Week … I know that it's been between 350-400 who get registered each year. So to have that many freshmen registered and to only have 638 people total show up on Election Day is a little disheartening. I think a lot of people tried to vote by mail in their home state, thinking their vote would've mattered more since it was out of Texas, which is pretty much a red state …. Thousands are registered in our precinct, so I was kind of hoping more people would come. At 7 a.m. we had a line out the door - it was crazy. Then it just really slowed down the rest of the day.
RT: Anything unusual happen?
AR: I wouldn't say unusual. We probably had to turn 50 people away from voting because they either weren't registered or didn't come to the right precinct.
RT: Do people know what they're doing in local elections?
AR: Most people skipped that or voted along party lines. The League of Women Voters has a Voter's Guide, and that's one of the things you're allowed to take in with you. There were a couple of people who brought those in, and you can sit at the booth for as long as you want and read stuff about them so we had people taking those in, so hopefully they looked at a couple of people. A lot of people voted straight ticket, so I don't think it was an issue. On one machine, which counted about 320 voters, 125 voted straight democrat and 44 straight republican, so over half of the votes on the machine voted straight ticket, so I think a lot of people didn't really pay attention to the smaller races and just voted by party. I don't know if people really know or care too much about the ninth appellate court judge.
RT: What have been the reactions to the election?
AR: It's kind of funny - my whole suite are big Obama fans and liberal, but the suite across the bathroom from me, not so much. I had a suitemate that actually cried when her home state turned blue last night. It sounds like most people, at least at Rice, are excited about it. And I think even people who voted for McCain are, too. I had a long talk with somebody tonight who tends to lean more Republican and they actually ended up voting Obama.
RT: Is Texas more staunch about regulations than other states? You mentioned that in some states you can register the day of the election.
AR: I think that's how it should be. In those states, you can just have a personal ID, whereas in Texas you need a driver's license or provide the last four digits of your social security number, and a lot of people mess up that part of the registration. Some states are trying to make it easier for people who don't have drivers licenses, necessarily, things like that. Basically, there is less discrimination against the poor through voter registration. I would love it if Texas went to a system that allowed voters to register the day of because it's really hard turning away people who wanted to vote. I haven't heard of any big push for this to happen in the near future. North Carolina is a swing state where literally every vote can matter, and you come to the polls like your vote has the potential to make a difference. Whereas in Texas, in local elections you can make a difference but for the big picture, with 10 million people voting, it's just kind of hard to keep track of people.
RT: Did you learn anything in particular about the election process?
AR: I learned it's really, really easy to rig an election. Insanely easy. They gave me a list over the weekend of everyone who voted early or voted by mail and I had go through the poll votes and write "V.E." over them and so should that person come in say "I'm here to vote," and they have a V.E. over their name, we'll say they can't vote because they voted early. So let's say I just don't write those students' names in the books. Every single one of those students could show up and vote, and then we'd be like "okie doke" and let them vote. You take an oath to say you won't do stuff like that, but frankly if you wanted to, you could. Someone said that in the law class: "This is an honor system. If you don't trust that, you probably shouldn't be doing this. It's really all we've got," So I could've sat there and signed my name on the list, printed off access codes and voted all day if I wanted to. That's why you have a judge and an alternate judge that are supposed to be from different parties, because clearly a republican judge wouldn't let a democrat judge do that. So, they do try to put in checks and balances, and my alternate judge was conservative, but he voted Obama.
RT: Anything you want to add?
AR: Just that I wish more people would come out and express their opinions. It takes all of five minutes, and I think the most annoying thing is when people say their vote doesn't count because they're from Texas or want to vote home because they think it matters more. And that's fine, but frankly I think that the 18-21 age voting is the most important thing. I think that there are a lot of issues in America that aren't going to even be looked at until we show that we're a force at the polls. There's a reason that Medicare, social security and healthcare are always on the forefront of platforms. It's because of the elderly. Fifty percent of them will go out to the polls and vote. And so I don't really care that my vote for Obama did nothing in Texas. What really matters to me is that I'm a 21 year old, and I voted and that's a statistic that needs to grow in order for education and energy - issues that I care about - to start being the forefront, issues that I don't want to have to deal with in 30 years. It just always makes me mad when people say, "My vote won't count" because young people casting a vote, that counts. So I wish people would get that through their heads. Progress little by little, I think.
RT: What does that responsibility entail?
R: Hiring clerks is a big one, and we had myself, the alternate judge, who I had to find, and then four election clerks and had to set up training for the four of us: myself, the alternate judge and two clerks had to go to poll worker training where we learned how to set up machines, what to do if this or that happens. Then myself and the alternate judge had to go to an election law class and learn about stuff you wouldn't think about like where to put distance markers and what it means that you can't wear an Obama shirt to come vote; you can't be on your cell phone when you're voting; you can't take pictures really close to the voting booths; what a poll watcher is, random stuff like that that you wouldn't think about. We also had to take all of our computers and poll tapes to the precinct county headquarters where they count all the ballots at the end of the night. So it was basically from 6:15 in the morning to eight at night doing election stuff. I was there the entire time. I did not leave the RMC for that time.
RT: Did anyone come in with election paraphernalia?
AR: There were a couple of people from Ellen Cohen and Barack Obama handing out these big door hanger-type things to people saying "Remember to vote," and people would bring those in, but you can't bring campaign paraphernalia in. We had to tell a lot of people to hide it or put it away. They were all really confused, and thought they had done something wrong, but that was the one thing we had. Some people showed up with a shirt and put on a sweatshirt, and one girl didn't have another shirt so she had to hold her purse over her chest.
RT: What were the numbers at the polls yesterday?
AR: Six-hundred and thirty-eight voted Tuesday, which doesn't include early voting or voting by mail, which is between 250 and 300. So about 900 total from this precinct.
RT: That's pretty good.
AR: It's okay. It was a lot less than I expected, actually. Considering that for the past four years we've had people registering freshmen to vote during O-Week … I know that it's been between 350-400 who get registered each year. So to have that many freshmen registered and to only have 638 people total show up on Election Day is a little disheartening. I think a lot of people tried to vote by mail in their home state, thinking their vote would've mattered more since it was out of Texas, which is pretty much a red state …. Thousands are registered in our precinct, so I was kind of hoping more people would come. At 7 a.m. we had a line out the door - it was crazy. Then it just really slowed down the rest of the day.
RT: Anything unusual happen?
AR: I wouldn't say unusual. We probably had to turn 50 people away from voting because they either weren't registered or didn't come to the right precinct.
RT: Do people know what they're doing in local elections?
AR: Most people skipped that or voted along party lines. The League of Women Voters has a Voter's Guide, and that's one of the things you're allowed to take in with you. There were a couple of people who brought those in, and you can sit at the booth for as long as you want and read stuff about them so we had people taking those in, so hopefully they looked at a couple of people. A lot of people voted straight ticket, so I don't think it was an issue. On one machine, which counted about 320 voters, 125 voted straight democrat and 44 straight republican, so over half of the votes on the machine voted straight ticket, so I think a lot of people didn't really pay attention to the smaller races and just voted by party. I don't know if people really know or care too much about the ninth appellate court judge.
RT: What have been the reactions to the election?
AR: It's kind of funny - my whole suite are big Obama fans and liberal, but the suite across the bathroom from me, not so much. I had a suitemate that actually cried when her home state turned blue last night. It sounds like most people, at least at Rice, are excited about it. And I think even people who voted for McCain are, too. I had a long talk with somebody tonight who tends to lean more Republican and they actually ended up voting Obama.
RT: Is Texas more staunch about regulations than other states? You mentioned that in some states you can register the day of the election.
AR: I think that's how it should be. In those states, you can just have a personal ID, whereas in Texas you need a driver's license or provide the last four digits of your social security number, and a lot of people mess up that part of the registration. Some states are trying to make it easier for people who don't have drivers licenses, necessarily, things like that. Basically, there is less discrimination against the poor through voter registration. I would love it if Texas went to a system that allowed voters to register the day of because it's really hard turning away people who wanted to vote. I haven't heard of any big push for this to happen in the near future. North Carolina is a swing state where literally every vote can matter, and you come to the polls like your vote has the potential to make a difference. Whereas in Texas, in local elections you can make a difference but for the big picture, with 10 million people voting, it's just kind of hard to keep track of people.
RT: Did you learn anything in particular about the election process?
AR: I learned it's really, really easy to rig an election. Insanely easy. They gave me a list over the weekend of everyone who voted early or voted by mail and I had go through the poll votes and write "V.E." over them and so should that person come in say "I'm here to vote," and they have a V.E. over their name, we'll say they can't vote because they voted early. So let's say I just don't write those students' names in the books. Every single one of those students could show up and vote, and then we'd be like "okie doke" and let them vote. You take an oath to say you won't do stuff like that, but frankly if you wanted to, you could. Someone said that in the law class: "This is an honor system. If you don't trust that, you probably shouldn't be doing this. It's really all we've got," So I could've sat there and signed my name on the list, printed off access codes and voted all day if I wanted to. That's why you have a judge and an alternate judge that are supposed to be from different parties, because clearly a republican judge wouldn't let a democrat judge do that. So, they do try to put in checks and balances, and my alternate judge was conservative, but he voted Obama.
RT: Anything you want to add?
AR: Just that I wish more people would come out and express their opinions. It takes all of five minutes, and I think the most annoying thing is when people say their vote doesn't count because they're from Texas or want to vote home because they think it matters more. And that's fine, but frankly I think that the 18-21 age voting is the most important thing. I think that there are a lot of issues in America that aren't going to even be looked at until we show that we're a force at the polls. There's a reason that Medicare, social security and healthcare are always on the forefront of platforms. It's because of the elderly. Fifty percent of them will go out to the polls and vote. And so I don't really care that my vote for Obama did nothing in Texas. What really matters to me is that I'm a 21 year old, and I voted and that's a statistic that needs to grow in order for education and energy - issues that I care about - to start being the forefront, issues that I don't want to have to deal with in 30 years. It just always makes me mad when people say, "My vote won't count" because young people casting a vote, that counts. So I wish people would get that through their heads. Progress little by little, I think.
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