Granville County Voters Who Had Trouble Voting in May Primary - Please Read
If you were one of the Granville County voters who had trouble voting in the May Primary because of registration issues - please read.
Regarding the Blue NC Post
"The fix is in already!!"
by Jim Sheaves on Tue, 05/06/2008I was just contacted by a good friend in Granville County about what is turning into, at best a problem, but most likely IMO, a concerted effort...
What happened? Registered voters went to the polls in Granville County and their names were NOT in the poll books.
They opened the doors at 6:30 and we were 4th and 5th in line at the A-H table. There was a problem with the first guy in line. They got him out of line and I don't know where he went. I think they got him a provisional ballot. The next lady's name was on the list and she voted.
However, they couldn't find person #3's name in the book either. She was upset because she has been a registered voter in Granville County for many years. Next-my turn. My name is not there. Neither is ******* nor *******. WTF? I also told the lady that I have been registered to vote in Granville County for 14 years AND have voted in every election. I know this because I looked it up when you gave me the sample ballot webpage! WTF?
Here's a Granville County voter who registered at the DMV but wasn't in the system:
..I have an 18 year-old daughter who was excited about voting today. However, she registered to vote at the DMV in March so I looked for her registration at the BoE website last evening. Her name was not there
Please help me to get an answer to this problem. Help me find out what caused the problem and how similar situations can be avoided.
The real issue in my opinion is how these problems can either be prevented in the first place and/or how they can be resolved without short-changing the voter. The veritable "back up" plan. Yes, if you were thrown off the rolls, you could get a provisional ballot. BUT - we know that about 35% of provisional ballots are discarded. Provisonal ballots are better than nothing, and if you can't get a regular ballot you should insist on one. But...
Some of you contacted your County Boards of Elections and the state Democratic office, and you didn't get an answer. There was NO reason for some of you to be thrown off the rolls. Some of you checked online to make sure you were registered!
So, here's what I am asking you to do, and it isn't too late to do this:
Please email your complaint to the North Carolina State Board of Elections. Send a description of your voting problem to:
email: don.wright@ncmail.net
Subject: Granville Co - Voter Registration problemNorth Carolina State Board of Elections
Don Wright, General CounselDear Mr. Wright,
Please investigate and advise.
I went to vote on _______ and my name was not in the poll book.... (describe problem, date and voting location etc).
Please tell me 1)what can be done to prevent problems like this in the future, 2)what contingency plans are in place at the polls if similar problems happen next election, and finally, most important - 3)what checks and balances are in place to ensure the poll books are correct and complete before deploying them to the polling places?
..
Contacting the State Board of Elections is often the only way they will hear that there was a problem. This may result in an audit of that county BoE office.
You should get a reply within 24-48 business hours depending on how busy that office is.
If you will, I hope you will share with me what you learn from this inquiry. My email is joyce@ncvoter.net (my website is www.ncvoter.net)
Meanwhile, a colleague of mine had this to say about pre election checks of the poll books:
Someone in the elections office should have checked the number of registered voters in a precinct against the number of entries printed in the poll book...The registration database should be the master file, not the Geo Coding file. The Geo Coding file should be nothing more than a pre-election day tool to help reduce manual precinct assignment work.
We are hearing from other states that voter registration database problems will result in many eligible voters getting provisional ballots.
Thank you and good luck.
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I assume this applies to any voter in any county who got the runaround in May. Good call-to-action post. Thank you.
Granville County Voters Who Had Trouble Voting
I don't know of anyone contacting the NCDP about this issue. I'll check with Kristen (Granville county's NCDP regional director).
Regarding provisional ballots, yes you should insist upon a provisional ballot if you are unable to cast a ballot otherwise. Additionally, I know of no valid grounds for denying someone a provisional ballot.
My understanding is that if a four-year-old toddled into the polling place and insisted upon a provisional they would be obligated to comply. Obviously that provisional ballot would later be rejected on the grounds that the toddler wasn't eligible, but that decision gets made by a Board of Elections official, not on the spot by a poll worker.
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GIS coordinates not correlated
Bob Hall quickly got to the bottom of this on the day:
Answer related to Granville Co problems at polls
This response was in the comments of the original post. It would help to arm people with some facts before setting them off in a frenzy of generalizations that are unlikely to resolve specific problems such as this.
Missing the Point - Checks and Balances Missing
The problem isn't that geo coding was screwed up. The problem is that voters were disenfranchised because of it.
Several things went wrong in Granville County:
Before the poll books went out, they should have been checked to ensure that they represented the proper number of voters. (if there are 2,000 voters assigned to a polling place, that poll book should contain 2,000 names.)
The voter registration database should be the main registration record, NOT the Geo Code database.
Some of the voters in the original post checked their registration online before voting and when they went to the polls, were told they were not in the poll book. Poll workers should have been able to call someone who could check that online database if there weren't electronic poll books available.
If voters did not send a complaint to the NC SBoE, then that office cannot know the full extent of the problem.
I believe this mess might have been avoidable, and even if not, a backup plan should have been there.
Too many provisional ballots get discarded, I want to see backup plans in place for people who ARE registered so that they CAN vote a regular ballot.
Here's the reply from the NC SBoE today that says only a few voters were affected - which doesn't sound at all like the complaints I saw posted at Blue NC.
That is because posters at Blue NC did not think about contacting the State Board of Elections.
At this point, its not clear what the scope of the problem was. This might have been preventable.
People jumping to conclusions without all the facts?
Say it ain't so!
Wake Forest won't play us anymore
Michigan last year
LSU - you are next
Go ASU!
the full answer is that half a poll book went to a polling place
I saw the facts. They were incomplete facts.
I read and copied the entire original post about this topic plus ALL of the replies. I have even shared this problem with other voter advocates in other states.
Voter registration databases will be a nightmare for many voters this year, in our state and others.
Anyone who cares about voters should support a serious effort to ensure that checks and balances are used to prevent incomplete poll books from being sent out.
As one voter said - the poll book was HALF the size it was the last time they voted.
We depend on election officials to check things like this - it is part of their job.
For some reason this was not done. This was or should have been preventable, and failing that, the poll worker should have been able to make a phone call to clear things up.
One easy way to fix this. EARLY VOTE EARLY VOTE EARLY VOTE
I agree with the other posters that problems like these should not occur. However, one good way to solve these problems is to vote during the early vote period.
How does this help you?
1) Avoid the lines that WILL BE LONG (that way you can spend some the the day encouraging others to vote democratic rather than yourself). Democracy NC has said this will be one of the best ways to avoid these issues.
2) If you are not on the roles in the county you can register (or in this case re-register) and vote at the same time on a normal ballot.
3) You can vote at any site so if you haven't updated your new address on your voter registration form then you can do that there and still vote again on a normal ballot.
We really should be as a group following the NC Coalition for Verified Voting and Democracy NC lead and push early voting. Call and write you legislators, the media, and especially the county board of elections and demand more site that are open for more hours.
Election day is October 16
As far as I'm concerned. That's the date we should be promoting like heck - not that Tuesday in November.
It's happening in OCTOBER!
Get the party started
One of the advantages of getting our people out early and voting is that the press will pick up on the ground swell of support for our candidates and people will want to jump on the bandwagon.
Wake Forest won't play us anymore
Michigan last year
LSU - you are next
Go ASU!
The fact that half the pollbook was missing in Granville County
I am the General Counsel for the State Board of Elections. My use of this website blog will be limited and is being made solely for the purposes of correcting a misconception that has been created on this blog, by unfounded allegations that only "half pollbooks" were used in Granville County in the May 2008 Primary and there are major problems as to the Granville County voter registration lists. Below is information sent yesterday to Joyce McCloy who started this issue on this blog. The use of this blog to provide this correcting information should not be implied to show support or agreement by the State Board of Elections with the positions or opinions expressed on this blog .
Dear Joyce,
Your understanding that the May 2008 Primary Granville Geo Code issue affected a large number persons is incorrect. The Granville County Board of Elections promptly addressed the issue at that time with our guidance.
The Verified Voting e-mail send out July 23, 2008 stating that Granville County pollbooks were half the size, based upon the statement of Dana Bower, is very misleading. In 2004, this voter voted in the Brassfield Precinct. The number of voters in that precinct were too many, with voting not concluded until well after 7:30 pm. This agency recommended the Brassfield Precinct be split in order to better service the voters. The precinct was split into two precincts, Wilton and Mount Energy. Danna Bower, of course said the pollbooks of the Wilton Precinct (where she voted) was smaller than the pollbooks of the previous Brassfield Precinct which was spilt. You are using the fact that a split precinct will have less voters than the previously larger precinct (and thus a smaller poll book) in a misleading way to create doubt and anxiety about the elections in Granville County.
Below (in bold) is the response of the Granville County Board of Elections to your inquiry. If you have further questions as to Granville County, you should contact them. The pronoun "we" refers to the Granville County Board of Elections, since they composed these responses.
1.. Even IF this problem is now solved, can you tell me how what the county will do going forward to make sure that poll books are complete before sending them to the polling places? ........ We are dealing with our 911 department about changing addresses. As to this issue, we have forty-seven voters with non-existent or no house numbers, six voters with rural routes that do not exist anymore, and forty-two voters who are inactive and have probably moved and did not change their address. In these cases, it is up to the voter to provide us with that information. We can try to contact each voter with no GeoCode and see if the voter responds. However, those voters who are inactive probably will not receive that mail. We make the effort to try to have the voter correct their address before November.
2. Failing that, what is the contingency plan? Can poll workers call the SBOE, or County BOE to have them check the online database? What can be done short of giving these voters a provisional ballot? ............. Pollworkers were instructed at the training meeting held prior to the May Primary regarding GeoCode issues and were advised that voters with GeoCode issues should vote a provisional ballot. Pollworkers do call our office on election day with any questions that they have, issues that they have, etc. and have been instructed to do so. The Board did count those GeoCode provisional ballots. The addresses were fixed based on information contained on the provisional ballot application.
I realize that if voters don't contact you directly, you don't know about the problems. If you don't have more information, I can try to get Granville voters to contact you....... We have and will continue to handle the administration of elections. We welcome at anytime any useful information.
Thanks.
This is much clearer now. I appreciate you taking time to 'splain things.
James
PS I'm feeling the need to editorialize. As you know, democracy is a messy business. I believe voters are justifiably skeptical of official pronouncements. The SBOE has had its share of close calls over the past couple of years, for sure. Its performance around the Pope electioneering scandal was an embarrassing comedy of errors. More to the point, we the people have been lied to by all levels of government on too many occasions for me to assume public officials are always operating with integrity. And if there is one place where zero tolerance for monkey business should apply, it is elections.
Jeez
The tone of that message is downright snotty.
--
recently transplanted from Indianapolis, IN to Durham, NC
I wouldn't recommend drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity for everyone, but they've always worked for me. -- Hunter S. Thompson
Well.......She might have earned that tone
....and I mean that in the best possible way. Joyce is a veritable thorn in their side and pain in their butt and it is all for a good cause. She has spent an amazing amount of personal time researching, writing and watch-dogging. It's bound to get under their skin. I don't expect them to be cheerful about it. I'm still very happy that Joyce is on the job, though. Whether she is right in every single case or not, she shines a light on possible problems with our electoral process. I don't think she has to be right all the time. She only has to be right once for all her work to have paid off.
Thanks, Joyce.
Exactly
Dismissive is what I've come to expect from too many public servants, especially those who are being advised by lawyers.
My thanks to Joyce as well.
Thank you and my apologies
Since I provoked this reply, first my apologies to Don Wright, who I respect greatly. Second, let me say a big "ouch" for the harsh rebuke, probably the first time I have drawn such a reaction from Mr. Wright (that I know of).
North Carolina has an exceptional State Board of Elections, and for election administration they are very fair. They have their hands full and so while they graciously answer my many questions, sometimes their regular job means less comprehensive answers.
Nationally there is concern across the board about voter registration problems, and this heightened my concern. Many of us in the 50 states are wondering how we can reduce or mitigate the impact of voter registration databases on voters.
Where I went wrong. Impatience, that is where. I had been seeking a detailed answer for what happened in Granville County on July 14 and July 17, and normally the answers from the SBoE come fairly soon and clear up any questions or concerns. This time the answer was less clear (to a layperson and non election official) and I honestly believed that there could still be a problem. So when the answer came, I wondered if there were more information. Hence I asked people to contact the SBoE.
I was concerned to read Bob Hall's comment (on the original blog) that approx 600 people were affected by the Geo Coding error. Perhaps many of those 600 were not active voters or somehow got the problem fixed or else early voted where registrations can be corrected.
Unfortunately, the voter who saw "half a poll book" was in error, as the precinct had been split and the natural consequence is a smaller poll book.
So, while it stung to be rebuked - and I do apologize, and will be more careful next time - I feel that everything I said was honestly stated and not intended to cause harm.
The bottom line: Its a shame that some voters will do everything right and still fall through the cracks sometimes.
It might be that the only solution is to allow Same Day Registration on election day, but its not clear if that is feasible. About 6 other states allow it.
The State Board of Elections website is here, and you can find your County Board of Elections website here
I have a question re statewide database
When I voted (early) in the Primary, I had to help the pollworker find my (current) voter registration file. I understand the databse was being hit hard that day, but that doesn't explain why/how our "searches" were unsuccessful.
First, she tried my full name, and the systen returned three possibles, all of them incorrect. Then she tried my voter ID number, and the same three incorrect listings showed up. Then we tried just my birth date, and around fifteen listings came up, one of them the correct one, so I got to vote. After examining the data on the correct listing, there was absolutely no reason why it should not have shown up on the previous searches.
I'm definitely not a computer guru, but this appeared to be a flaw in the database itself, as opposed to a precinct issue. Has anybody at the state BOE taken a long, hard look at this?