New York
In reply to the discussion: SO I CHECKED MY NY VOTER REGISTRATION STATUS [View all]Divernan
(15,480 posts)We have one of the most convoluted, archaic, massively inconvenient set of voting regulations in the country. And our state Democratic organization isn't worth spit at GOTV. That's why we have that jerk Toomey as Senator even though Dems outnumber GOP registered voters by just over a million.
As a judge of elections, I pick up what is called my "suitcase" of polling place materials from a county distribution center the weekend before each election and spend 2 days making sure I have all the myriad of forms required; matching up the individual (unopened) absentee ballots with the list of absentee voters; reviewing over 800 line items in my ward/district voting register & highlighting in yellow every voter with "ID required" or other special instructions next to his/her name (to make sure my poll workers don't miss any of those); and just refreshing my recollection of all the complex instructions/forms for every possible problem which could come up on election day. The Monday before the election I swing by my polling place to make sure the voting machines have been delivered and match up the ID/numbered tags on the machines with the numbers provide in my materials; remind building management to have the doors unlocked by 6 a.m. when the pollworkers arrive; and rearrange the furniture in the polling place. Although it is not required of me as judge of elections, I also hold voter registration workshops at my assigned polling place several times a year - lots of retirement homes/condos/assisted living facilities - so a significant amount of new to my polling place voters every election - most of whom assume because they'd voted at their old, in-state address for decades that they'd be somehow magically registered at their new address.
On election days I leave home at 5:45 a.m. and get back home around 10 p.m. Really makes for a brutal day, and most of our poll workers are retirement age. It's ridiculous that we don't have at least a week long voting period and mail in ballots.