NPR did a broadcast the other day about the blatant discrimination people (mostly people of color) face at the polls. They focused on the misinformation given to voters by civilian election officials. One of the guests they had on argued that he thought it was less about a conspiracy to suppress voters and more about ignorance of election officials themselves about the rules. I, personally, don't buy that for most cases. It seemed pretty clear to me that in the 2000 and 2004 election that it was racism and classism that were at the root of the election frauds.
However, I do think that for some places, the commentator was right. I think they also brought up a very important point, which is that the majority of election workers are people who are well into their retirement years. I don't think that having elderly people working the voting places is in of itself a bad thing. (I really don't want to appear ageist at all) However, I had an experience voting in the primaries that alerted me to the fact that not having young people working the polls can create a harmful (and in my case, hostile) environment for new voters. I wanted to share my experience with the community here.
This was my first time voting in a primary. I drove an hour round trip back to my town from my university to try and vote and make it back in time for class. The polling place was set up at a local high school. I walked into the gymnasium and saw lots of tables set up that were all run by elderly men and women. There were no signs telling me what to do, so I walked up to the nearest table and asked the man sitting at it how to proceed. He was friendly, had me sign in, and then directed me to a different table where two elderly ladies were administering ballots.
I stood in front of the table and waited while the two ladies greeted other people whom they obviously knew in the community. It became clear to me that these women had been doing this for many years and that they knew many people in my town.
After they finished chatting with their friends, they sat down and seemed to be sifting through some papers. I was standing right in front of one of them, but she refused to acknowledged me. I figured she would finish what she was doing and then give me my ballot, so I waited patiently.
After a minute or so, a middle aged woman came up to the table I was waiting at. Without acknowledging my presence, the lady looks up and immediately helps the woman who came after me. She gave the woman her ballot slip and then continued to ignore me, even though I was standing right in front of her and she had to reach past me to give the other woman her ballot.
When a few seconds later, a man came up to the table and the woman tried to do the same thing again, the man (a bit confused) pointed at me and said "she's been waiting". The older woman gave him a nasty look and then begrudgingly assists me, giving me a snarl when I asked for a democratic ballot. (In Massachusetts, if you register as unaffiliated, you have to ask for a specific party ballot in person when you go to vote) That woman was purposefully trying to dissuade me from voting, and made it very obvious with her hostile attitude and by outright ignoring me.
I've heard other stories about this problem. There seems to be a lot of ageism against young people who are trying to exercise their right to vote. People who think negatively about young voters try to use their unfamiliarity with the process to keep them out of the voting booth, and what better way to do that than if you're an election worker?
I want to see more young, progressive people working the polls. I want to see technologically savvy people at my polling places. I want to see more people working the polls who will be enthusiastic about young voters and give them a reason to come back and vote again. The college voters are a largely untapped and undervalued voting block that needs to be organized and encouraged to make their voices heard, and I think one way to do that is if young people see other young people running local elections.
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i just completed training to work at the polls. i didn't know that the age requirement to work at the poll is only 16. There were 16 and 17 year olds in my training class. Some of them were there because they wanted to make some meaningful contribution to this election. Others said that they were there to for extra credit in the civic class at school. Whatever, the reason, I'm glad that they are participating. Even the instructor, a twice retire school teacher, said that we sorely need more young people working at the polls.
Not to say that older folk are technologically challenged (just about everyone is), but during the primaries I witnessed the workers there (average age 70) having issues using the new machines, locating people's names on the poll lists, etc. And they weren't very friendly. I know you have to take the job of elections seriously, but the tension in the air--so so thick.