Posted on 11/04/2010 9:54:25 AM PDT by darth
I was the Republican Alternate Judge in a Democrat-majority precinct in Texas on 11/2/10. Got caught up at work, so I now have time to report what I learned:
1. We need more volunteers to serve as Judges, Alternate Judges, and Poll Watchers! I was the only set of Republican eyes there to keep the Democrats from doing illegal acts, and I could not observe everything happening in the polling place at all times. I worked non-stop from 6 AM until after 10 PM when the last voter in line finished voting. BTW, I worked at the Sign In Desk because that's where you can stop most of the fraud. I checked every date of birth against the age of the voter, checked to insure that the address on the Voter Registration Card (VRC) and Texas driver's license (TDL) matched, and enforced the Statement of Residence Affidavit for everyone who had moved out of the precinct. I am happy to report that we turned away every scam artist who tried to vote without ID or a VRC.
2. This was a very mixed precinct of lower middle class voters. Only about 10% were white. The minorities were about one third African American, one third Latino, and one third Vietnamese. I was surprised at the massive number of Vietnamese who had valid Voter Registration Cards and driver's licenses yet could not speak English.
3. There was a major opportunity for voter COERCION. There was only ONE Democrat Clerk who spoke Vietnamese. He "assisted" almost every Vietnamese voter and I saw him pointing to the ESlate screen as he "helped" them vote. Without a Vietnamese speaking Poll Watcher this kind of abuse will continue. We MUST recruit Poll Watchers who can speak Spanish and Vietnamese.
4. For those who become Presiding Judges, be careful about who you recruit to be clerks. The Democrat Judge had only hired one Clerk who actually worked. For example, the Clerk from the New Black Panther Party got sick after two hours and left. I think the meth that he took to wake up at 5 AM upset his stomach. He did not work at all; he seemed kind of dazed.
BTW, the one good Democrat Clerk was outstanding. She was very sharp and enforced every rule perfectly. Maybe I will try to recruit her to our party.
5. Good News! A large number of Latino voters who spoke little English asked for assistance in how to use the machine because "I want to vote a straight Republican ticket." The lousy economy has affected Latinos, and we need to work at peeling off as many of these voters from the Democrat Party as possible.
6. One old vote fraud scam is still around. On Election Day, some dims go from one Polling Place to the next trying to vote multiple times. Some of the Democrat Clerks are so dippy or crooked that they simply write the name of the scam artist into the Poll Book and let the scam artist vote. We could catch some of these scam artists if I had a Freeper outside that I could signal when I turn the guy away (most of our perps seemed to be transvestites).
If I could walk to the door and discreetly signal to a Freeper, they could follow the scam artist to the next Polling Place and get some long distance video. At our precinct, you could shoot long distance video through the window to easily prove that the scam artist DID vote. BTW, better enforcement, e.g., having more Republican Alternate Judges, and Poll Watchers has definitely decreased the incidence of multiple voting.
7. There is still an opportnunity to vote multiple times by maintaining multiple Voter Registration Cards. We need the photo ID law passed.
8. The 2012 Campaign starts TODAY!! We need to get the Voter Rolls and start contacting every voter. We need to insure that every Republican has a valid Voter Registration Card with an up-to-date address. We sent dozens of voters back to the precinct where they used to live. In this state on Election Day, you can ONLY vote in the precinct where you are registered. We enforced that!
In 2012 we should set a goal of getting EVERY Republican to the Polls for Early Voting. I voted early and it took about two minutes because there was no line. On 11/2 we had voters waiting FOUR HOURS IN LINE. The dims ground game sucked. Many dims got disgusted and left.
After we update the Republican Voter Roll we need to get started identifying Democrat voters and figure out which ones don't actually exist. We need to understand the various demographics of Democrats so we can target our appeal to each group. For example, Latino Catholic voters will vote Republican based on the abortion issue if they are approached the right way.
On Election Day it would be helpful for a Card Pusher to be out front with a sign, "Don't Know Your Precinct? See Me First!". The Voter Roll for each precinct can be downloaded from the County and merged into an Excel file. We could search through a million voters to find anyone. While the Card Pusher is helping the voters, he can recite his elevator speech on why they should vote Republican or for his candidate.
A Republican Card Pusher could work the long lines late in the day with cookies, koolaid (how appropriate), coffee, etc. and win a few hearts/minds. For example, I have gotten a positive response from every Democrat when I ask, "We have observed over one trillion dollars in fraud on Wall Street and where are the indictments? What is wrong with the Obama Administration that they don't enforce the laws?".
In summary: WE CAN WIN THE GROUND GAME WITH GOTV. We need to work steadily for the next two years.
It was a grueling, yet very satisfying 20 hour day. Send fresh horses!
Good post..
Thanks for all your work.
Purple thumbs.
EXCELLENT!
Republicans should make elimination of gerrymandering and vote fraud top priorities for the next two years. This has gone way too far.
How would the pubbies eliminate gerrymandering in dim states?
Texas was gerrymandered under the dims. Now, we are being just as fair with them as they were with us.
Fraud is a more tractable problem. As I outlined, a lot of our work is just investigating the voter rolls and scrubbing them.
God truly has a sense of humor.
The Dem's spent all the time getting people to sign up for the census, increasing the number of representatives for a bunch of states.
Along comes the 2010 election with a landslide for the Republicans, enabling us to define the new districts.
In republican controlled states, it’s easy. In dem states the only thing to do is yell and scream, delay the process as long as possible, and make sure the people know what is going on. People seem a little more engaged these days.
Serving as a Judge or Poll Watcher is not that hard.
I took two classes (6 hrs. total).
Election Day is a bit long, and I really hate getting up at 4 AM.
But the payoff is great!
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