By Raquel Ronzone, ACLU of Massachusetts communications content specialist
There are fewer than 24 hours until polls open for Election Day 2012. That means more time for confusion, frustration and half-truths about the policies of this year’s election to continue.
Some Virginia voters are facing the reality that their voter registrations could have been thrown into a dumpster. Wisconsin voters might receive misleading information about voters’ rights—the result of poll watchers’ being armed with erroneous documents about the state’s policies. Spanish-speaking voters in Arizona were told to vote on November 8 (the English-language version on the other side of the voter registration cards states the correct date, November 6). And don’t think Massachusetts is immune– the ACLU of Massachusetts has already been receiving reports about problems that could interfere with people exercising their right to vote, and there are reports of robocalls telling people here to vote on the wrong day.
So be ready!
In Massachusetts:
- You DO NOT need to show photo ID to vote. You may be asked for proof that you are registered at your current address if you are voting at a new polling place, if you are an inactive voter or if your voting status is challenged.
- You can bring someone to help you in the voting booth.
- If you feel intimidated by anyone at the polling station, you have the right to report it immediately to election staff or poll observers without penalty.
- If you feel threatened or intimidated by election staff or poll observers, you have the right to call 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683), email info@866ourvote.org or tweet @866OURVOTE to notify them of the problem.
Those are the basics of what you need to know in order to vote tomorrow. For more details, see aclum.org/vote!
present, don’t be afraid to challenge the registrar or the suppressors.
Make sure to double-check with the cop or clerk on duty if they have a write to be there. Many of these conservative thugs use signage and/or techniques that violate election law. Any sign declaring “show ID to vote” is illegal, for example.
GOP pollwatchers are trained to challenge votes. When I pollwatched for the Dems I was trained to help ensure that people COULD vote.
got a new AccuVote machine just before the state primany. He told me that it was for disabled or impaired voters, and that it simply “marked the ballots” via a touchscreen. Said ballot is then run through the Opticsan and counted as usual, he said.
When I asked him what was done with the results the AccuVote collected, he hedged, saying, “Oh, they get totalled in the machine and a slip is printed out.”
“By whom? And how?” I asked. “Are the results tabulated in-house, or are they sent outside the town via modem to a central place to be aggregated?”
He hedged again.
On Primary Day, I saw him urging everyone, not just impaired or elderly voters, to try the machine out.
I also noticed that there were NO PENS OR PENCILS in the voting stations.
I’m bringing a handful of sharpies to the polling place tomorrow. And if there’s none in the voting stations, I’m going to raise a royal ruckus, because all this taken together stinks to high heaven.
Where did this occur?