2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Tonight I witnessed a shameful display of voter supression in Minnesota. [View all]dflprincess
(28,075 posts)The instructions to conveners were that we not check IDs, we would take people's word that they live in the precinct and will be eligible to vote on election day. I was surprised by the number of people who had IDs out as they approached the registration table (one was set up for each precinct) or were concerned that they weren't registered to vote in the precinct yet.
Also, no one was given a ballot until they had completed the sign in sheet. At the end of the evening we were expected to balance our ballot count with the number of people who had signed in. I never did hear what happened if a precinct didn't balance, I just gave a huge sigh of relief when mine did.
I don't think using a wastebasket to collect the ballots was that big a deal. If the convener got to the precinct and hadn't brought anything to collect the ballots in it was probably just something in the classroom that could be used. In my precinct we used a large envelope - others had coffee cans or cardboard boxes ready. This was a party affair, not a state run election; ballots were counted by hand and the people running each precinct were expected to keep it honest. At least in my district, I have no doubt that that is exactly how it went.