FLORIDA: 'Lowdown tricks' sap poll-watcher's faith in fair U.S. voting
tinyurl.com
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
by Margie Boule
America: land of the free. If we were taught anything as young Americans, we learned that in this nation we are free to live where we wish, express our opinion, worship in any faith we choose and vote for whomever we wish.
Portlander Tina Knight spent 20 years working for high-tech firms in Europe. Traveling for work and pleasure, she often found herself in conversations about the United States. "One of the things people admired was the free elections," she says.
But when Tina returned in 2000 to live in America, she was concerned about allegations of election tampering. A patriotic American, Tina had trouble believing widespread voter fraud could occur in this country. But after acting as a nonpartisan observer Nov. 2 this time around at a precinct in Florida, she says she's lost faith in the system. In nine hours Tina says she saw "lowdown tricks" that have made her feel "disgusted, angry -- and yes, energized." That's why she wants her story told.
Tina, who's 57 , has gone back to school at Portland State University to get a master's degree in adult education.
But she took a week off from classes in early November and flew to Florida to work as a volunteer with the nonpartisan organization Voter Election Protection. Sponsored by a coalition of organizations that includes the League of Women Voters, America's Families United and the American Constitution Society, Voter Election Protection sends volunteers to monitor voting in precincts across the nation. Tina's mother lives in Boynton Beach, Fla.; Tina offered to observe a precinct there.
After a Monday night training session for 300 volunteers from across the United States, Tina arrived at 6:20 a.m. election day at Palm Beach County Precinct No. 7120. "There were over 100 waiting to vote." Polls opened at 7 a.m.
Most people in that neighborhood, Tina says, "were blue- and pink-collar workers, immigrants and retirees. These are people who have shift jobs. They cannot afford to miss work without getting docked or even fired."
Soon after the polls opened, problems began. "I started getting people from a neighboring precinct coming to vote." Tina explained they had to vote in their own precinct. "They said they'd been called over the weekend and told to come here. Some people had even been told, while waiting in line at their correct precinct, to come here.
"That's the first indication we got that people had been deliberately misinformed," Tina says.
A second incident made Tina even more angry. "Another nearby voting place was in a synagogue. When people in that precinct went to vote, the polling place was closed. There was no notification of where they should go, and there had been no prior written or telephonic communication. They didn't know what to do."
A few persistent voters had finally gotten calls through to county election headquarters, and had been told they were to vote at the precinct Tina was monitoring. "So our organization went to the synagogue and put up a note advising people where to come to vote. And the sign disappeared. So we put up another sign with a sign watcher. As soon as he finished his shift, the sign disappeared again."
Tina worked nine hours election day. She talked to a woman who said the voting machine had repeatedly registered the wrong presidential candidate. After 8 or 9 tries, it finally showed the candidate she had selected.
"Another lady said when she got to her review screen," at the end of the voting process, "the opposing presidential candidate was listed. . . . She called the poll worker and demanded it be fixed. The poll worker went back through the screens" and agreed the woman had voted for a different candidate than the review screen showed. "The poll worker said, 'The review screen is wrong, but just go ahead and punch the confirmation button.' The woman refused. She made the poll worker cancel out the transaction, and she voted again. But how many people would do that -- go against what the poll worker advised?"
After hearing many voters' stories, Tina says, "I have absolutely no good feeling that those machines have integrity."
Tina used to believe the United States had free, fair elections. She flew across the nation to help ensure that. Instead, she's lost faith in the integrity of the process. "When I saw the very simple but lowdown tricks, like misinforming people about where to vote . . . I felt like I'd been violated as an American."
Tina is still glad she went to Florida "because I learned a lot. Now I'm going to be even more questioning." She wants others to ask the same questions. She hopes they'll become observers, as well. (Go to www.lawyerscom.org, click on "Enter" and then "Election Protection.")
"I'm going to push for more standardized ways of doing elections, and that there be a paper trail," she says. "I just want people to have access to fair and unbiased elections. So their votes are actually counted."
Tina is not affiliated with any political party; she's registered as an independent. But she's passionate about fairness. "We shouldn't be assuming our election system is above reproach," she says. "It isn't. And I want to get the message out there. We have to be vigilant. If we want to maintain this democracy, we have to make sure the votes are all counted and the elections are fair."
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