Remember all the "fun" you had in the Democratic Primary? Standing in line for hours, being sent to a different line, for another hour, while very harried election workers were conferring with people about whether they were registered, whether they could vote there, or whether they could vote at all? There were a lot of reasons for the mess that was the Democratic Primary in Texas, but one of the major ones is NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE VOLUNTEERING TO WORK THE ELECTIONS!
Perhaps you didn't know this, but the people who work at the elections are mostly retired people, who volunteer their time to learn the legal process of certifying voters and how to work the voting machines. Usually, there are so few people volunteering to do this, that many times a polling place has to host more than one precinct - sometimes as many as four! This is causing a crisis in running the elections - sure, a lot of people are working for certain campaigns, people are working for the parties, but there is a desparate need for people to work the elections themselves.
The work itself is not difficult - matching certificates to names in the rolls, asking someone if they're still at their address, writing their name in another list, coding a ballot to use in a voting machine, and ensuring that the voter knows what they're doing in the voting booth - all of this is set down in law, and can be taught in 1-1/2 hours. Yet without the people who have these skills, we run the risk of disenfranchising voters this coming November.
If you want to learn how to do all this, an opportunity is coming up for registered voters in Frisco this weekend - the current run-off election for Frisco City Council Place 5, to be held Saturday, June 14. If you want to learn how to run the election (or just to get the handbook), the classes will be held in McKinney this Thursday:
University Drive Courts Facility Central Jury Room1800 North Graves StreetMcKinney, TX 750692:00 PM June 12, 2008
University Drive Courts Facility
Central Jury Room
1800 North Graves Street
McKinney, TX 75069
2:00 PM June 12, 2008
and look for Santa in the Frisco Democrat t-shirt. If you want to talk to me, call 972-658-7434, or you can call the Collin County Elections office at 972-547-1990 to determine if you qualify to be an election worker. Oh, and even though people volunteer to do it, they're paid minimum wage for the election day worked, more if you qualify as an Election Judge.
Please consider helping us run the election - our democracy depends on it!
