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Gothmog

(143,998 posts)
Wed May 6, 2015, 10:49 PM May 2015

It is not a good idea to locate a voting center in a police station or branch office

Excuse my frustration. My county is adopting countywide voting which means that on election day a voter can vote at any voting location in the county and not just at their local precinct. I have been an election judge a couple of times each cycle and it is painful to tell someone five minutes before polls close that they are at the wrong location. This plan eliminates that problem.

We had a meeting to discuss locations for polling center and two GOP mayors of small towns really wanted polling locations/voting centers in their local police stations. My county party chair and I went nuts on this suggestion and hurt their feelings. We also had an argument that if it was okay to have a polling location at a supermarket where white people shop, then it was also okay to have a voting center at an other supermarket where less well off people shopped.

It was a frustrating meeting

24 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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It is not a good idea to locate a voting center in a police station or branch office (Original Post) Gothmog May 2015 OP
We use schools, churches, and community centers... TreasonousBastard May 2015 #1
Mine was a bar for several years. Hassin Bin Sober May 2015 #2
Bwahahahaha Rod Beauvex May 2015 #5
I don't recall it being open when I voted in the am. Hassin Bin Sober May 2015 #11
Same here Gothmog May 2015 #18
I've seen this proposed before PRB May 2015 #22
Better than a church basement. Downwinder May 2015 #3
Why?? 1939 May 2015 #12
My polling is at a police station, I dont see a problem with it Travis_0004 May 2015 #4
agree, people should be able to vote at any location within their county &/or State. Sunlei May 2015 #6
That would require a realtime database of all area wide registered voters seveneyes May 2015 #7
My county has electronic poll books which are linked to the county system Gothmog May 2015 #19
There are too many issues that can make voting centers a bad idea. LiberalFighter May 2015 #8
Using police stations for voting is a different idea. Always wondered why US Post Offices appalachiablue May 2015 #9
Post offices are open for business on Tuesdays, and in my vicinity parking is very limited. ... Hekate May 2015 #15
How small town are these small towns? Chan790 May 2015 #10
Why is a police station a bad idea? Ruby the Liberal May 2015 #13
Sigh. You may have noticed that people of color have a justifiable reluctance to being around cops. Hekate May 2015 #14
I get that Ruby the Liberal May 2015 #16
We want places that people are comfortable voting at Gothmog May 2015 #20
Country clubs and golf courses? Ruby the Liberal May 2015 #21
There is a long history of the GOP using police officers and uniformed officers to suppress the vote Gothmog May 2015 #17
One county at a time, vote centers coming to Texas Gothmog May 2015 #23
I think polling places (if you must have them) should be without ties to government of any kind Bluenorthwest May 2015 #24

TreasonousBastard

(43,049 posts)
1. We use schools, churches, and community centers...
Wed May 6, 2015, 11:00 PM
May 2015

along with the occasional senior center.

Dunno why supermarkets and police stations would be considered.

(Security? People gotta shop?)

Rod Beauvex

(564 posts)
5. Bwahahahaha
Thu May 7, 2015, 12:16 AM
May 2015

Did they serve alcohol while voting was going on? Any brawls over candidates?

Also, excellent screen name.

Hassin Bin Sober

(26,271 posts)
11. I don't recall it being open when I voted in the am.
Thu May 7, 2015, 06:55 PM
May 2015

In the old days, I would have just voted on the way home. Tip the bartender and vote.

It was "the piano man bar" on chicago north side by wrigley.

Gothmog

(143,998 posts)
18. Same here
Sun May 17, 2015, 10:49 PM
May 2015

Schools and churches are used often. We have convinced the elections office to look at a mosque in a heavy democratic area

 

PRB

(139 posts)
22. I've seen this proposed before
Mon May 18, 2015, 02:36 PM
May 2015

Of course, I have seen all different places proposed. Once adjacent city where I lived discussed a public-private partnership with a grocery chain. The shopping idea was considered. I did not live in that town, but it wasn't a bad idea. People could be civic and then buy their groceries after work.
The police station does have it's pluses with politics getting more contentious. Even a sign can set people off. Probably wouldn't have too much trouble in a police station.

1939

(1,683 posts)
12. Why??
Fri May 8, 2015, 09:48 AM
May 2015

1. The church basement/hall/sunday school area is empty and unused on a Tuesday.

2. The church usually has ample parking which is normally empty on a Tuesday.

3. The church has easy access and exit with large doors able to handle crowds.

My precinct is in the church hall of a Roman Catholic church and I was raised as a Protestant to regard the Roman Catholic church has an evil entity brainwashing their followers. Somehow, I manage to cast my vote within sight of an uncovered crucifix without suffering severe damage to my psyche, without influencing my vote, and without forced conversion to Catholicism.

When i was a kid, we had a voting precinct in our elementary school which meant that on election day we couldn't use the gym (which was also the cafeteria with tables coming out of the wall like a Murphy bed). Gym classes were cancelled and we had to schlepp our lunch trays down to our classroom and eat at our desk.

If i was an election official, i would make maximum use of any available and conveniently located churches, synagogues, and mosques.

 

Travis_0004

(5,417 posts)
4. My polling is at a police station, I dont see a problem with it
Thu May 7, 2015, 12:14 AM
May 2015

Its nearby, plenty of parking, and plenty of room

Sunlei

(22,651 posts)
6. agree, people should be able to vote at any location within their county &/or State.
Thu May 7, 2015, 07:43 AM
May 2015

The cost savings alone in admin. could be used for free transportation for voters, a shuttle van or school bus loops the town.

 

seveneyes

(4,631 posts)
7. That would require a realtime database of all area wide registered voters
Thu May 7, 2015, 10:36 AM
May 2015

Rather than just a local paper register of precinct voters.

Gothmog

(143,998 posts)
19. My county has electronic poll books which are linked to the county system
Sun May 17, 2015, 10:51 PM
May 2015

When we check a voter in, then that voter can not vote any where else in the county

Harris County is run by teabagger idiot and they use paper poll books on election day

LiberalFighter

(50,477 posts)
8. There are too many issues that can make voting centers a bad idea.
Thu May 7, 2015, 12:46 PM
May 2015

1) If there is not sufficient parking for peak times. That limits the number of locations that can handle voters.

2) Access in and out of the building. Difference when it is precinct voting location compared to a voting center.

3) Distance factor when voting centers are limited. There are many voters that have difficulty

4) Increase in waiting time during peak periods.

5) Reliable internet connection to confirm eligibility, correct ballot, and voting status.

6) Having sufficient election workers to handle peak periods. That also allows some relief.

7) Having sufficient election workers at each of the voting centers. When voters can vote at any voting center in the county the ability to assign sufficient workers at each location is more difficult. A voter could decide to vote at a voting center that is either closest to their home, work place, shopping, medical appointment, school their child attends, child care, etc.

8) Population of county.

Cost savings imo would not be enough to provide free transportation.

appalachiablue

(41,047 posts)
9. Using police stations for voting is a different idea. Always wondered why US Post Offices
Thu May 7, 2015, 01:41 PM
May 2015

aren't used that I'm aware of. Parking in urban areas might be a problem, but eliminated if voting was expanded beyond one day, which it should. How hard is it, like mail in ballots in Oregon and other places that are very successful and popular.

Hekate

(90,189 posts)
15. Post offices are open for business on Tuesdays, and in my vicinity parking is very limited. ...
Sat May 9, 2015, 03:43 AM
May 2015

There's limited space inside as well.

We use church halls and community centers. It's always easy to get in and out, there's plenty of open space inside the halls to put up voting booths, plenty of space for the tables used by the volunteers. Plus, they are sprinkled around every neighborhood and available on Tuesdays.

 

Chan790

(20,176 posts)
10. How small town are these small towns?
Thu May 7, 2015, 03:22 PM
May 2015

I ask because our sole voting precinct for the town I live in is "in the local police station" because the police station is also town hall. If they barred use of police stations...we'd have no place to put a voting precinct.

There is literally no place else to put it...we have regional schools in an adjacent town so schools would be out.

Ruby the Liberal

(26,216 posts)
13. Why is a police station a bad idea?
Fri May 8, 2015, 07:49 PM
May 2015

Sure there is a good explanation, I am just not seeing what it is?

Here, we vote at our assigned locations. Mostly schools and churches. The logic is that the schools cover where the people live and the churches help with overflow (I'm in a city - suburban areas are schools and community centers mostly). Adding in a police station wouldn't be of much help as there is typically only one per township and not convenient like the other more spread out options. That wouldn't pick up much of the overflow from long lines, but I don't get why it would be a concern overall?

Hekate

(90,189 posts)
14. Sigh. You may have noticed that people of color have a justifiable reluctance to being around cops.
Sat May 9, 2015, 03:37 AM
May 2015

One of several voter suppression tactics utilized in Florida and some other states is to have police roadblocks in the vicinity of polling places in black neighborhoods. This provides the cops with plenty of excuse to stop black drivers and detain them on whatever bogus charge they can dream up on the spot (as has been the practice in Ferguson Missouri, if you will recall), and plenty of potential Democratic voters just turn around and drive away in the other direction.

Ruby the Liberal

(26,216 posts)
16. I get that
Sat May 9, 2015, 08:55 AM
May 2015

But OP said that they are moving to an open county - people aren't going to be assigned polling stations. Doesn't it make sense to add more options (whatever they are) for a design like that to reduce the time folks have to wait in line?

Gothmog

(143,998 posts)
20. We want places that people are comfortable voting at
Sun May 17, 2015, 10:52 PM
May 2015

We are pushing for commercial locations and places where people work while the GOP wants to limit these locations to the country clubs and golf courses

Gothmog

(143,998 posts)
17. There is a long history of the GOP using police officers and uniformed officers to suppress the vote
Sun May 17, 2015, 10:47 PM
May 2015

For example, former CJ Rehnquist got his start in GOP politics as a member of a GOP goon squad that swept in to prevent non-whites from voting http://www.democracynow.org/2000/12/12/as_supreme_court_decides_presidency_chief

In 1964, Rehnquist demonstrated his segregationist sentiments when he fought the passage of a Phoenix ordinance permitting Blacks to enter stores and restaurants.

Between 1958 and 1962, when Rehnquist was a private attorney in Arizona, he served as the director of Republican "ballot security" operations in poor neighborhoods in Phoenix. Rehnquist was part of Operation Eagle Eye, a flying squad of GOP lawyers that swept through polling places in minority-dominated districts to challenge the right of African Americans and Latinos to vote. At the time, Democratic poll watchers had to physically push Rehnquist out of the polling place to stop him from interfering with voting rights.

Two decades later, during Rehnquist’s 1986 Senate confirmation hearing for appointment to head the Supreme Court, he denied targeting minority voters. Some election watchers, who had personally observed Rehnquist’s tactics in Phoenix, accused him of lying to Congress.

In 1982 the RNC got really aggressive with ballot security and had officers at polling locations with "poll watchers" to challenge voters who were not sufficiently white in a tactic called voter caging. The DNC sued and has maintained a cease and desist order against the RNC that expires in January of 2017 http://www.brennancenter.org/legal-work/dnc-v-rnc-consent-decree

Many low income voters are worried about police at a polling location given this history. Having a polling place at a police station would be a really bad idea in Texas

Gothmog

(143,998 posts)
23. One county at a time, vote centers coming to Texas
Thu May 21, 2015, 06:42 PM
May 2015

My county was not mentioned in this article but we have another meeting on Tuesday http://www.electionline.org/index.php/electionline-weekly

Some revolutions start with a shot and others take time to build.

In Texas, a slow-building revolution is moving one county at a time to switch the largest state in the lower 48 to a vote center system instead of the traditional precinct-based polling places.

Since beginning a pilot program of vote centers nearly a decade ago just over 10 percent of the state’s 200+ counties used vote centers in the most recent statewide election and more are petitioning to make the move.

While not willing to call the pilot an outright success because of the still small sample of counties using the system, the secretary of state’s report to the 84th Legislature on the program said anecdotally, vote centers do make easier for voters and elections officials alike.

“However, anecdotal evidence from the participating counties, including feedback from voters and election officials, along with the turnout percentages, suggest countywide election polling places offer a way to ensure that voters who plan to vote in the election have an increased opportunity to do so much as with early voting,” the report said.
 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
24. I think polling places (if you must have them) should be without ties to government of any kind
Fri May 22, 2015, 10:41 AM
May 2015

so the choices should be community locations not police or postal offices or city halls. I live in Oregon, every home a polling place, every sofa a voting booth. No polling places at all. I really like that.
When I lived in CA, my polling places included private homes, The Workmen's Circle (a social justice oriented Jewish community center), a Catholic Church and the very gorgeous Yamashiro restaurant, home of post voting Saki sessions. All of these locations were very appropriate and a police station would not be, that's my opinion.
The only authority visible at a place of voting should be the voters.

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