The U.S. voter assistance event today in Grecia Costa Rica was a roaring success.
There was nearly DOUBLE the turnout compared to the past two voter assistance events.
Kathy Neckar and I got there about 11
We were put to work right away rearranging and organizing tables and putting up directional signs. Other volunteers prepared their work areas at the same time.
I didn’t take any pictures. Lydia and someone else took some at the end and when I get them I will post them here.
I brought my laptop
…which turned out to be a stroke of good fortune! One of the volunteers was supposed to bring her laptop to print out ballots and submission instructions for a great many of the attendees who needed that kind of ballot assistance. Alas, no one had told her to bring it — she assumed one would be provided — so she came empty-handed. Big oopsie!!!
I volunteered mine immediately, so there would be three laptops capable of receiving and sending the crucial docs to the printers or to the fellow who was faxing ballots to various states.
RULES!
Since many states don’t allow anyone to handle a ballot except the voter, we had to be sure each voter did their own handling, including placing them into the secured metal ballot box for the ones that were going to be couriered to the U.S. Embassy to be sent in the diplomatic pouch to the U.S. for mailing.
My ballot was faxed to the Pierce County Auditor, since Washington State allows faxing and emailing of overseas ballots.
Every state processes ballots differently, so the folks who were helping the attendees from at least ten different states had to read the instructions and follow them to a T.
MANY FIRST TIME VOTERS
It appeared that many of the attendees were first time voters — or perhaps just first time overseas voters. Some didn’t know if they were registered, so the help table volunteers had to go online and try to find out if they were.
Because of this, a few provisional ballots were prepared for wannabe voters who weren’t sure of their voting status. (States won’t process an individual’s provisional ballot until after they have determined the voter’s eligibility and whether they voted some other way after submitting one. Some states don’t offer provisional ballots at all.)
Others (like me!) just didn’t have access to printers or fax machines, so they needed their ballots, processing instructions and certifications printed out so they could sign the required signatures and/or affidavits to make them legal before they could be sent out and get counted.
In other words, there were at least two dozen different ways that ballots had to be handled, signed, certified, and sent. Several volunteers were trained in ways to do all this fancy footwork in a timely manner so the event could proceed smoothly.
For about an hour
… no one could get the laptops to connect to the printers. But everyone remained calm, patient and most attendees arrived hungry, so they just ordered lunches and chatted while some volunteer techies in attendance figured out how to make the laptops talk to the printers.
The Event Ended at Three
…but we were there until 4:15 because one of the attendees was having a heckuva time, even with help, getting her ballot and other docs located on her laptop and sent to my laptop for printing, and then the printer jammed, and… and… and…
At one point I joked that I thought her ballot was bewitched! When we finally got it done, we all cheered and took a picture with her. We called her the Ballot Queen for being so committed to voting that she would have walked through fire to do it!
Our turnout shows me that a lot of people (51 just at our event; other events across CR are having equally great turnouts of first time voters) are taking these midterms as seriously as a heart attack. They understand the assignment and they’re reaching out to make sure their voices and votes get counted. I was delighted to welcome the attendees and to help wherever required. ACTION IS THE ANTIDOTE TO ANXIETY.
I feel very good about the midterms after seeing how fired up people are.