Conflicts emerge between supporters, foes of system

“Things here have gone well, except we’re not sure if our votes are being counted… “Things here have gone well, except we’re not sure if our votes are being counted correctly,” said Rick Gerkin, minority clerk of the polling place in Posvar Hall.

Conflicts between Luddites opposed to new election technology and technocrats embracing it lead to myriad conflicts between students, election officials and voters in Tuesday’s general election.

“People were undertrained, and the machines are not intuitive,” Gerkin added.

Under Pennsylvania state law, voting machines may not issue receipts, or voter-verified paper audit trails (VVPAT). No Pennsylvania counties may purchase machines with VVPAT technology, according to the Allegheny County Web site.

The Student Vote Coalition, a student organization headed by campus coordinator Sara Fattel, was also present in Posvar monitoring the polls.

“We’re here to make sure all students have the right to vote, and also have access to the polls.” On electronic voting, Fattel, a senior sociology major, added: “People like it, they feel it’s OK.”

“I feel in my heart [the reason students don’t vote] is not because of electronic machines, or because they don’t want to, it’s that the process is so slow.

“And how come students don’t work the polls? They don’t know how to. It’s a matter of access.”

“[A poll worker] said to me today, ‘We’re glad you’re here, because we don’t know as much as you do. We refer voters to you.'”

The Student Vote Coalition also periodically checks the lists of people who have voted and compares it to the rolls of those who have registered. Members of the coalition then call people who have registered, but not voted, to remind them to vote.

According to county and state law, the Judge of Elections must permit designated poll-watchers to inspect signed voter certificates or the handwritten number lists of voters.

Poll-watchers must be registered voters of Allegheny County, but may serve in more than one district. They have the right to be present from the time the polls open until the counting of votes is completed.

When Bill Reier, a senior and the Student Vote Coalition’s tabling and events coordinator, visited the polls on McKee Place to examine its registers, he encountered difficulties.

“They just wouldn’t let me check the rolls,” Reier said. “It’s frustrating because these people are not cooperating. We’re not trying to disenfranchise anyone, and I don’t think they are, either, but they won’t help us.

“The judge of elections called the police on me.”

“It’s not OK to disenfranchise people and to think that no one will hear about it,” Fattel added.

“We have not had any problems at all,” said Blithe Runsdorf, Judge of Elections at the Ward 4, District 7 polling place in the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial on Fifth Avenue. The Judge of Elections is an elected position with a four year term; Runsdorf is currently serving her third.

Speaking of the handwritten numbered lists, Runsdorf added: “You take that document, and you take that document away from the person.”

When surrendering the hand-numbered list, that poll worker can no longer record people who are going in to vote, therefore leading to longer waits at the polls.

“I usually just give them the voter certificates,” which are ripped out of the binder of registered voters and placed in envelopes. The poll-watchers can then count them.

Speaking of her experience in the 2004 presidential election, Runsdorf said, “Over 1,000 people voted, and only one person failed to be able to vote. I’ve always been able to offer someone something.

“All you can offer them is a provisional ballot.”