Many elections ago, I arrived at my polling place to vote.

[MineralMan]

When I got there, a car was parked, blocking the entrance to the parking lot that served that polling place. I parked on the street, a block away and went in to vote.

I reported to the chief election judge that a car was blocking the polling place parking lot. Another polling place worker said, "That's my car."

I asked him to please move his car to allow people to park and come in to vote. He said, "I'll park wherever I damn well please."

So, I called 911 on my cell phone right there, on the spot, to report someone obstructing voting at that polling place. As I was talking to the dispatcher, the man rushed out of the polling place to move his car. He did not look happy when he returned, and said something ugly to me. I just shrugged.

The point of this is that if you see illegal activity at a polling place that is preventing people from having access to vote, make noise. Call the cops. It is illegal to obstruct voters who are coming to cast their ballots. Don't let the a-holes get away with even subtle obstruction of the vote.

[TwilightZone]

1. That's a good way for a worker to get kicked off duty.

From my understanding, most polling place administrators take their responsibilities seriously. Someone doing something that overt should be booted from duty and perhaps was.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. A polling place worker!

It boggles the mind.

I'm guessing the election judge told the worker to move it.

[spanone]

3. K&R

[progree]

4. "a car was parked, blocking the entrance to the parking lot that served that polling place"

That's way bad. I wonder what he was thinking. Thanks for dealing with it.

[MineralMan]

5. It was easy for me to insist that the car be moved.

Had the local sheriff's deputy come, he would have explained it as well. There is a law against blocking any parking lot entrance or driveway. Even it it weren't election day, the guy would be breaking the law.

Everyone should speak up if their voting is being disrupted. If the poll workers won't correct the problem, the police will, so call them if you don't get the problem solved.

Don't argue with the poll workers or with anyone who is obstructing voting. Just call the cops. They can explain the law to the offender.

[BobTheSubgenius]

6. Good advice!

What I can't understand is...what was that a-hole doing there in the first place?

[MineralMan]

8. He was one of the poll workers.

I guess he thought he could cut down on the number of voters for some reason.

Some people will do whatever they can to affect an election. We all have to watch out and protect everyone's right to vote. It's not a matter of party, but of our basic and fundamental rights in a democratic republic.

[warmfeet]

7. K & R

[yaesu]

9. Back in '12 my mom, who was wheelchair bound & 80, called about her local clerk making her come

in person to get an absentee ballet even though no law prevented them from mailing it. I got on the phone immediately with the State Elections board. 10 minutes later she gets a call from the clerk, apologizing & offering to hand deliver the ballot to her, which she did.

[MineralMan]

10. There are ignorant, officious people everywhere.

When it comes to voting, that can't be tolerated, and must not be tolerated by anyone.

You handled it just right. Let someone who is in authority over such people tell them what to do. Such people won't listen to ordinary citizens sometimes. If you don't get satisfaction, just go over their heads. There are laws regarding our elections. Violating some of them is a felony.

It is important not to get into arguments with people who are interfering with elections. Let the authorities deal with enforcing election laws. But make sure you ask those authorities to help you. If you don't, they won't know about the problem.

[yaesu]

13. Couldn't agree more 👍 nt

[Hortensis]

11. Absolutely! Good action that needed to be taken. nt

[C Moon]

12. When your party's only chance to win is to cheat, scare or prevent citizens from voting...

you're one of the bad guys, and you're not an American—you're a fascist.

[Ms. Toad]

14. If you can find a Democratic observer, start there.

There are official observers in larger/"hot" polling locations. They are connected to an incident reporting system, a boiler room full of attorneys, with a hotline to the board of elections.

There is a system set up - use the system rather than the police. (If police intervention is warranted, we'll call them. But - particularly in minority communities - police can be intimidating so we'd prefer they not be called in unless necessary.)

[MineralMan]

15. There were no observers at that polling place.

I made my request for the car to be moved. It was not, so I escalated. In unincorporated communities in California, the county sheriff's office is the first level of authority to contact. Merely calling the sheriff's office while there in the polling place was enough to get the person with the car to move the vehicle.

I did what seemed to me to be the most effective intervention. It worked. No LEOs were needed, and none came. The car was moved and did not block the entrance again later. I checked.

It was my own community, and I knew exactly what I was doing. You were not there at the time, so I could not ask you for advice. This happened in the 1990s, before there was an easy-to-access network for reporting polling place irregularities.

I always recommend addressing issues with the poll workers before escalating. However, anyone can do as they please when it comes to violations of the law.

[Ms. Toad]

16. When there are Democratic observers, you should start there.

Since there were none, calling 911 is fine (although I would have called the boe before calling 911.)

But when there are observers, let them do their job.

[MineralMan]

17. Whatever you say...

I am far from a beginner when it comes to elections. I have served as an election judge, a party observer, and in other capacities in elections for decades. I no longer participate, due to my age and health.

Yes, calling 911 was fine in that circumstance. Just the call was all that was needed to correct the problem. I know what I'm doing with such things.

Scolding me is not required.

[Ms. Toad]

20. Then you, better than others, should understand the importance of using

the tools provided by the party to protect the vote.

Unfortunately, the threads here recently have been filled with blatant misinformation about how to resolve issues - or information that ignores the systems set up by the Democratic Party to protect the vote.

While you are aware of observers, a whole bunch of others who read your thread might just take your advice, making life more challenging when there actually is an observer in place for the express purpose of addressing issues like this in an orderly fashion.

[MineralMan]

21. There will not be party observers in most precinct polling places.

That never happens. This year, jurisdictions are finding it difficult even to find enough people to staff the polling places. In reality, the first person to contact in most polling places will be the chief election judge on duty. That should be enough to solve a problem.

As in all situations, the circumstances where you are should guide you. In the circumstances I described, what I did was exactly what needed to be done and corrected the problem almost instantly. In another situation, something else might have been possible.

In truth, most people will do nothing at all. If there were party observers at the polling place I described, they would have addressed the blocked entrance themselves, quite obviously. There were no such observers, so I took a different approach. I brought the car to the attention of the chief election official at that polling place. Another poll worker said that it was his car, so I addressed him and explained that he was blocking access to the polling place, and thus breaking the law. He came back with a smart-ass response, as I described.

That solved my dilemma, so I took an action that let him know that I would not settle for his response. He moved the car immediately, because he knew he was wrong and might get in trouble.

All of this took approximately one minute, from start to finish. I did not raise my voice. I did not become angry. I simply solved the problem in the most expeditious way available to me.

Everyone should assess any situation they encounter and do what is needful. Most people will do nothing. Calling an election hotline will not necessarily resolve a situation quickly. It simply will not. My preference is to take whatever action that is required to resolve the issue in a timely way. I described one particular incident at one polling place almost thirty years ago.

You scolded me. That is laughable, to be quite frank. But, you often scold me, for some reason or another.

[Ms. Toad]

24. I did not suggest calling an election hotline.

I suggested calling the board of elections.

And, to repeat, many people are not aware that Democrats have a substantial voter protection system in place. The entire point of my initial response was to let people know they should use that first, when it is available. It both resolves problems quickly - AND - documents the kind of problems encountered in the event there is a need to establish systematic efforts at suppression for use in the event litigation is ultimately needed. Circumventing that system, in places where it is available, undercuts the team's ablity to to its job.

You're the one who made it personal.

[MineralMan]

25. ..

[calimary]

18. Please allow me to repeat your last paragraph, MM.

"The point of this is that if you see illegal activity at a polling place that is preventing people from having access to vote, make noise. Call the cops. It is illegal to obstruct voters who are coming to cast their ballots. Don't let the a-holes get away with even subtle obstruction of the vote."
- MineralMan


In BOLD, sir.

[634-5789]

19. Good for you!

[Illumination]

22. Guess he thought he owned the place! Amazing how fast he moved when he realized other

people weren't having his b.s.! it would be a better America if more people like you spoke up!

[MineralMan]

23. Most polling place workers are politically active people who

know how elections work. That's why they do what they do. Being politically active, however, can come with some partisan ideas. I suppose the man who parked his car to block the parking lot entrance had such ideas and thought he could cut down on the number of voters in that precinct.

He knew he was doing something wrong, so my call to 911 signaled to him that I also knew he was doing something wrong. So, he modified his behavior.

What I didn't say in my original post is that I knew all of the poll workers, who were all neighbors of mine in that precinct. I knew the chief election judge, as well as the man with the car, who was a local business owner. I wasn't just a random voter, but someone who was very active in politics in that community.

The problem got resolved, which was my only goal.

[Illumination]

30. That's very interesting MineralMan! So what you're saying is you have some clout within the

community. That can be very helpful! Just have to say that here in Colorado, love being able to vote @ home. Am able to drop off my ballot @ a voter box in front of the court house. What's nice is that they have a camera there also. Elsewhere, voting could sure use lots of improvements! Way too many obstacles & voter suppression. I'm grateful for the time & efforts that the pole workers contribute! Hoping for the best in these challenging days ahead but aware of the dirty tactics used by the GOP...GO JOE & KAMALA!...

[MineralMan]

31. For the very first time in my adult live, I voted early,

dropping off my ballot at the local library, which is a designated drop-off point. Why? Covid-19. I cherish the tradition of going to my polling place and voting on Election Day. This year, though, I opted for safety.

I voted on September 25, two days after receiving my absentee ballot. I find it difficult to understand why people are waiting for the last minute to vote absentee. It makes no sense, really.

Some, of course, will vote in person on Election Day. I hope they stay safe, wear their masks, and observe proper distancing. I simply couldn't bring myself to do that this year. It was a difficult decision for me, though.

[Illumination]

34. Enjoyed early voting like you. Also voted around the same time as you. I try not to

procrastinate. Waiting until the last minute to do something is never a good idea. It's smart to always have that leeway incase something goes wrong...

[Sogo]

26. What happens when the 911 responders are the perpetrators

as with the police who pepper sprayed the people marching to the polls yesterday in NC?

Edited to add: Calling 911 or appealing to higher authority in some areas such as minority communities is not necessarily going to be helpful in today's climate.

[MineralMan]

27. I don't have an answer for that.

I don't think I have ever marched to the polls. Until this year, I have always voted on election day at my designated polling place. I go there with my wife. We go in and vote and then go home.

When I can vote, I have no need to protest. My vote is my protest.

[Sogo]

28. They weren't protesting, just going en masse and encouraging others to vote.

It was a church sponsored event, from what I understand.

[MineralMan]

29. I understand that they all did vote, in the end.

Personally, I would advise everyone not to congregate in large groups to go to a polling place. Just go and vote on your own.

Right now, tensions are very high, and some law enforcement folks are being dicks. Avoid them, if you can. Just go and vote.

it should not be that way, of course, but it seems that it is that way in some places. Right now, voting is essential, so adapting to whatever situation is at hand seems like the best possible approach.

Pragmatism can be useful.

[Sogo]

32. Pragmatism, yes,

which is why I said on another thread that if I were to have to vote in a place that was going to have MAGA thugs around it, I'd get myself a MAGA hat, wear it to get through them, take it off at 100' distance to the polling place, go in and vote for all Dems, then put the hat on again outside 100' beyond the door.

Then, when Biden wins, I'd burn the hat in celebration!

~~advice from this gray-haired little lady~~

[MineralMan]

33. There ya go!

Vote! That's what's important.

[Maeve]

35. This is one of the reasons I am a poll worker

To see that things are done legally and by the book. A lot of experienced workers are sitting this one out because of covid; I am not (and today is my 65th birthday).

[MineralMan]

36. Thank you for doing that important service.

I did it, too, for years.

[Blue Owl]

37. K&R