Posted on 11/03/2009 7:14:54 AM PST by Pessimist
I live in Brecksville, OH. - a tiny red dot within the otherwise uniformly blue Cuyahoga county.
I woke up this morning eager to vote, but when I got to my usual polling place, there was no sign out by the street as there usually was. For a second I thought "did I get the day wrong?", but then I turned in anyway and was relieved to see that I hadn't.
But when I got inside I found the table I always vote at was empty. ?? I asked a worker and was told they moved my boting location. I looked at the card the county sent me, and sure enough she was right.
Ok, so off to the other location. Guess what? No sign out there either. It's a fairly county large vo-ed campus, so I drove in and started riding around. Again, no signs.
Finally I happened down another campus road and found the polling place, but it took a while. Even once you found the enterance, there we no signs inside - and it's a big building. Two older ladies and I hoofed around the builing for a while till we found a receptionist who directed us to the polling room. The place seemed deserted otherwise. (Shouldn't it be a school day?)
I asked a poll worker "Why nio signs out at the street?". Her answer: "Really? No signs out there? We'll look into it."
I also asked why the change in polling place. She said it was to consolidate locations. I told her I couldn't understand that since the old location was still open, and our precint's table was just empty there now. Her response was a shrug and a blank stare.
When I was leaving, I ran into several others there looking lost and driving around. They were all kind of puzzled too...
I wasn't the only one who smelled the faint whiff of voter supression though.
To those of you not from here, realize our county is little more than democratic machine currently mired in a corruption probe. Our county commisioner (google Jimmy Dimora) is under indictment. Let's just say we practice Chicago style politics, if you know what I'm sayin'...
Anybody else here from Brecksville? Anybody else from Cuyahoga county?
Did they have signs out where you voted?
PS: I have a call in to the Mayor to see if he has any clout w/ the County.
What are you doing holding an election in an odd year anyway?
The soft run-a-round.
Practice makes perfect.
It’s a “special election”. A few tax issues, Casino gambling, and 2 possible changes to county gvt (related to the corruption indictment).
It makes perfect sense.
In those areas where you expect democrat turnout to be a minority, make it as difficult as possible for voters to find the polls.
issues and local mayors/county etc..
That's the way I see it too. They already know how Brecksville votes, so if they can knock a few old folks off, what the heck?
And of course if they get called on it, it's simply a minor bureaucratic mistake.
True, except Cuyahoga count is solidly donk. Then again, the OP’s district is probably one of the few that isn’t. In fact, now that I think about it, I’d bet (what’s left of) my life savings on it.
Yup...
That’s why I’m wondering if the polling place signs were missing on - for instance - the east side of Cleveland. The vote there is just as reliable, but in the other direction.
Wonder what Acorn is up to these days?
We here in Brecksville are prettty reliably Republican. Every time Bush came to Cuyahoga county, we are the place he’d visit to insure a friendly crowd (and wealthy donors).
I wonder if someone should post a vanity calling everyone on here to report in polling place obscurities and other issues, and any correlation to the political climate of their area.
“What are you doing holding an election in an odd year anyway?”
Gives the powers that be a better chance to push things through. Less general interest, less voter turnout, get “your” people out and maybe you win outright or if not then you only have to cheat by tens of votes instead of hundreds.
Increased voting by mail and early-voting means they are consolidating precincts and locations. Consolidating locations saves them money too since they have to pay rent and pay poll-workers. People are getting moved everywhere. We are going through the same thing down here.
Hamilton County has gone from 1000 to 800 to 600 precincts in the past 3-4 years.
The changes in locations, the changes in voting equipment, etc, are causing a lot of turnover in poll-workers too. The competence is definitely down here from what it used to be.
While I live in a GOP area and about 1/3 of our voters got moved, I know that some people in the heavy D areas are getting moved, too. A local TV station, whichever one serves WLW-AM, went to Ault Park to interview voters, as is their custom, and, well, it's no longer a polling place.
I’ve hit my vanity quota for the day :)
(Actually this is the first and hopefully last one I’ll ever post.)
But that was my intent here, at least for Cuyahoga county.
Our county moved our voting loction just before the primary this year.
A little hard to find when I went to vote then but breezed in today.
D’s got to be careful with that trick as most R’s can noodle it out and find the darn place.
But the thing is the old location is still open for other precincts. The workers, machines, etc are still there.
Of course this could be just gvt ineptitude rather than anything more nefarious. But the way things are around here these days, one wonders...
hey - I live in Portage County but I work in Brecksville!
My polling place used to have 5 precincts. Now it has 3, but it has more total voters. With more people voting by mail, it has fewer people walking in on E-Day, though.
Some people have to drive past another polling place to get to ours.
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