Election Day Monitoring 2004: Notes from the Field I

Right now we're going to step into the way-back machine, and take a look at how things used to be. This post will be the first in a series of posts from people who've worked as election monitors in the past. By hearing their stories, by listening to the challenges they faced, their failures and successes, we can be that much more prepared this time around.

I was placed in a very rural part of the country – my town was probably 2,000 people. Polls were opened and closed by people identified with one party or another – because in such a small town, everyone knows everyone, and there's only so many people to work the polls. I'm sure this is the same all in small towns all over the country, and that's fine. It just makes having someone from both parties at every polling site very important.

First of all, I think it's important to remember that people who volunteer their time to sit at a polling place all day have very good intentions. I wish more people were like that. I wish more people gave back to the democratic process the way these people do.

That said, I saw things, and heard about things, that we all need to be careful of. This year in Virginia, we can make sure that every vote is counted the way it should be.

A common problem that we faced was people not being allowed to vote because they weren't registered to vote at that particular polling place. Poll watchers were able to inform voters that they could go to a central location and find out where he or she was in fact registered to vote. Procedures vary from state to state, but many people were turned away from polling because of this issue.

... to be continued

Do you have any stories from the polls that you'd like to share? Any challenges you've faced? The more we know, the better prepared we can all be.