All posts in the topic To anyone who wrote in "Donald Duck, Dolly Madison, Chuck Norris"... (Short link)
Summary
- There are 18 posts — by 11 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by Wizard Marks at Dec 02 20:31 UTC
If you know anyone that wrote in any of the following non candidates, ( non
humans, dead people, celestial beings, cartoon characters...) I have a job for
them next election season. They can, instead of voting themselves...drive
other folks who cannot get themselves to a polling place to vote. Me, I sorta
think they should be fined for doing really stupid things to ballots on
election day.
Also next election day, those of you brighter ones who know how to vote that
read the forum....let me tell you- people used big giant sharpies, blue pens,
purple pens, pink pens, pencils, glitter pens, they made X's, dashes, blots,
self portraits, maps of MN, and tried doing IRV voting. So if folks complain
that the election judges are telling people what to do, and it is holding up
the line..."stick it in your ear" is what I say. People do ridiculous things
to their ballots, and on this one historic occasion in 2008, all of the
ridiculum is showing it's ugly head. People obviously need more direction, and
then even more direction. And then need all of that to be repeated again.
Ovals are obviously not easy for some.
So if you know someone who wrote in Elvis, and thinks it's funny...think of
this, it costs money to have people read these ballots, there is so many other
things that the elections folks have to do. Next time, if they tell you they
are writing in "God" or "Jesus"....they need to go to their rooms and not come
out till election day is over.
Gina Palandri
Election Judge
9/8
How about Hillary Clinton, Judge Gina?
Sorry, Gina, but...no. I'm going to continue writing in names. There's a
method to my madness.
I always write in the name of one of my pets (usually for my elder cat,
Nosemarie) for at least one of the unopposed Judge races (especially if it's a
judge who has a long record of being a DFL lap-pet or one that's got an
especially bad record on father's rights).
The reason? So that if there's any question of votes not being counted, I can
go to the County and ensure that my vote has actually been registered. That
way, I don't have to act like a whiny DFLer, pleading "disenfranchisement"
without any actual evidence; I KNOW if my ballot was registered.
If it inconveniences the election judges and tabulators? Sorry - but you are
volunteers, no? Democracy comes first; your convenience comes in somewhere
down the list.
I find it interesting that the Franken campaign is trying to claim most of the
people who've made the stupid or trivial selections...
Mitch Berg
The Midway
Actually, the minimally-paid (maybe $8-10 an hour) election judges do not
record the names of all write-ins. If there is recording to be done, it will be
by county staff, after the ballots are received by the county. This work is
done on the taxpayer's dime.
I have an idea, though. Why don't all these creative people sign up to work as
an election judge? They may learn a thing or two about how elections work.
Susan Rego
St. Michael
(election judge in former Frankfort Twp)
What's frivolous is the idea that- ok, there are viable, viable
candidates to write in, I'll admit to writing in past candidates that
did not make it past primary season ( not this election, but a local
election, thus the need for IRV...-which I think gosh we voted on that
too)- but why for any human reason would you write in a non human, or
cartoon, or pet- and know, know paid staff from elections have to
account for the write-ins? Me, I think this is where the voter fraud
exists ...purely with stupidity of the people that wrote in God, and
Elvis....why do it??? Drive serious people to vote, help the blind, go
to a nursing home and help a resident, clean your house...do anything
else, but why waste the time to blow smoke? I won't blow the smoke of
saying wasting tax payer cents..but I will say, wasting the time of the
hard hard working elections folks who have a million zillion other
things to sort out and tally all the messes that are created by
self-interpreting election judges and precincts that don't fill in their
blanks and forms correct. Rather than vote for a cat, or a dog, go be
an election judge, go bring coffee and donuts to precincts, there a lot
of older folks in nursing homes that need a visitor now and then, go do
that. Do something that matters.
Gina
How about a tally of all the people who wrote in Hillary?
I want to know, and she was the better choice.
Sometimes people find this is the only way to make a statement. A write-in for
Donald Duck says the voter thinks the listed candidates are less desirable
comics. In too many of the elections I have voted in, starting with 1954, I
have had to hold my nose. The downside of this way to make a statement is that
nearly always no one will ever know.
Tim, Tim, Tim
here's a morsel for the holiday
silly - you are the troll we are not suppose to feed
peace
leigh
Powderhorn Park
You are probably right. Many of the voters who would write-in a name of someone or something that is ineligible to serve the position, is probably disgusted with the candidates. However, I consider those people to be as bad as someone who chooses not to vote. But then again we have elected politicians who, after their candidate drops out from a race chooses to continue to promote that candidate and slam the endorsed candidate in hopes of a primary contest. So I guess I shouldn't fault a voter who actually shows up to a polling place and writes in a Daffy or Donald duck. Although, I wish they would write in a person who could at least serve if elected. Remember every one of the ballots that have a write-in must be counted by hand. Mike Fratto Payne Phalen Please help those who don't get enough to eat. http://oyh.org http://hungersolutions.org The future depends more on what we do between now and then Than what we did in the past.
On Nov 25, 2008, at 11:44 PM, Jack Ferman wrote:
> Sometimes people find this is the only way to make a statement. A
> write-in for Donald Duck says the voter thinks the listed
> candidates are less desirable comics. In too many of the elections
> I have voted in, starting with 1954, I have had to hold my nose.
> The downside of this way to make a statement is that nearly always
> no one will ever know.
>
Only in 1968 when Duval County, Florida was hopelessly for Nixon
after we had worked like fiends for our candidate Hubert Humphrey did
I vote for Donald Duck. It's the only time. I was outraged at the
poverty, the segregation of housing and schools, and the shameless
political grinning that their candidate Nixon would win. We folded
our efforts, some crying, some kicking the dirt in abject hopelessness.
I went to homes that were fairly upscale, I went to homes that had
dirt floors and the occupants were too fearful to vote. When I left
Florida years later, I knew I had learned a great lesson in politics.
Organizing was the tool that would bring the fearful people out of
their homes when it was local. People would stand up for one another.
When others came from out of town, they did not stay and stand with
those who lost their jobs or even lost their homes because they voted
"the wrong way" or even voted at all.
This was a place where landlords ruled and women wound up with
"insurance babies" when the payment had to be made with flesh. We had
to be known or no deal. I was the "Indian woman" and my license
plates were copied down. Fakes had been over in the communities. They
reported back and punishments followed. Florida was redder than red
and proud of it.
When president-elect Barack Obama said we are the "united states"
that meant something to me and I am sure all the people who remember
that 1968 election in Florida and the knowledge that we did not have
a united states or equality at all.
Laura
Minneapolils/Southeast
Laura Waterman Wittstock
President and CEO
Wittstock & Associates
913 19th Ave SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414
612-387-4915
blog:
cornplanter's revenge
www.laurawatermanwittstock.com
"Remember every one of the ballots that have a write-in must be counted by
hand."
This is what my point was about. Is that Donald Duck, Casper, Lassie and
Mickey are not going to be able to serve. And neither really is GOD or Jesus
F.Christ or Jesus H Christ or Elvis.
Also, if Minnesotans can barely fill in ovals...which believe me....lots of
people have trouble with this...( I think more of the Automark now after seeing
the X's the slashes- the dashes- the blobs....) how in the world are they going
to understand the IRV voting? And I am a fan, I get it- but I am not sure that
all those who cannot fill in ovals are going to understand ranking the
preference of your choices. That is sad.
I think we have an absolutely fantastic array of folks that work in Mpls
Elections offices, and I cringe when I think of the ridiculum of nonsense that
the joke-voters, the writes-ins for cats and dogs and spirits that have to be
tallied...believe me when I say they have enough to do...Of course, we have
some local races where we want to write in who did not make it thru the
primaries...but I really think we need to Help America Vote and have all those
folks that write in stupid stuff drive people to vote next time.
Gina Palandri
9/8 election judge
Gina makes one good point...: > Also, if Minnesotans can barely fill in ovals...which > believe me....lots of people have trouble with this...( I > think more of the Automark now after seeing the X's the > slashes- the dashes- the blobs....) how in the world are > they going to understand the IRV voting? And I am a fan, I > get it- but I am not sure that all those who cannot fill in > ovals are going to understand ranking the preference of your > choices. That is sad. FINALLY, someone else gets this. I earn a good chunk of my living analyzing the *usability* of systems. I've written at great length before about the problems I - someone who makes systems, whether software or store designs or page layouts or whatever - see in IRV. I won't repeat my points - I cast those pearls before the swine in the Saint Paul forum in this thread...: http://forums.e-democracy.org/r/topic/Itd3TDMBTbjZhCwjtxSD4 ...and I still stand by them. > I think we have an absolutely fantastic array of folks that > work in Mpls Elections offices, and I cringe when I think of > the ridiculum of nonsense that the joke-voters, the > writes-ins for cats and dogs and spirits that have to be > tallied...believe me when I say they have enough to do... With all due respect, Gina - so what? I do *one* write-in every election, for my cat, always in an unopposed judicial race, always against a judge with an abysmal record on family-court/father's rights issues and/or of being a DFL pet. Half of it is to self-audit the system - to make sure my vote is counted. Half of it is to protest the judge I'm voting against. THIS IS MY RIGHT. I want to be able to ensure my vote was counted (which, in a DFL-controlled city, only makes sense), and I want to send a message to the noxious pustule in a judge's robe that I'm voting against that his/her presence is not appreciated. Now, Gina, stop me if I'm wrong, but the last I checked, election judging is a voluntary gig, right? Nobody twists their arms, right? Nobody is shanhaied and hauled off to be an election judge against their will? Then, with all due respect for the work they do, neither my write-in vote (driven by judicious and ethical reasoning) nor the most trival, "Mickey Mouse" write-in is ANY of their business, and they have NO right to whine about it. None. They're doing a job they volunteered for. If they don't like the way their fellow citizens exercise their franchise - even by trivializing it - then they should just get the hell out of the business. Because it's a short slide from complaining about how stupid and trivial your fellow citizens' choices are, and "doing something about it" under the table at counting time. Fratto: > Many of the voters who would > write-in a name of someone or something that is ineligible > to serve the position, is probably disgusted with the > candidates. However, I consider those people to be as bad as > someone who chooses not to vote. Why? The vote SHOULD be something undertaken not only solemnly, but with actual knowledge of who and what one is voting for. I, as a voter who is more informed about EVERY race than 99.99% of his neighbors (and whose "silly" write-in vote is not only not "silly" or trivial, but in fact a carefully-considered action), am mortified that I was joined at the polls this year by a mass of people who went to the polls, many for the first time, on nothing more than wave of rhetoric and campaign promises, people who largely knew little of the Presidential race and virtually nothing of any races down-ticket. The trivial votes that Gina and Mike complain about are *part and parcel* of the left's mania for flooding the polls with every uninformed, uninterested (or, worst, interested only in the swag they've been promised) warm body they can drag through the door. People who know one name, and care not one iota for any other race, any other contrast in positions (to say nothing of the actual details of the one race they DID purport interest in). You asked for it. You got it! Mitch Berg The Midway
Nope:
Election Judges are paid. All workers at Mpls Elections are paid. You can
waive being paid if you want, you can donate your wages to a non profit ( I do
every year to Planned Parenthood)- but we are paid. For the recount, I am not
sure, I offered to volunteer for that to help our fine Mpls elections folks, as
I know they are very very busy and deserve help.
"With all due respect, Gina - so what?"( Mitch B)
Just know we are paying for this to be done. I think with the lack of true
understanding of what all the processes are, and how much work an election
really is, it's hard to make these crack of the tongue remarks that it's ok
that we these folks that have to do a pile of votes for Lassie or dead cats,
file them, document them, tally them, I am sure input them in the SOS website
that, that labor could of gone for something else is hard for someone to
understand.
"Half of it is to self-audit the
system - to make sure my vote is counted. "( Mitch B)
I think it's time you sign up to be an election judge. Self-audit the system
can be done far better by an insider who sees how the process works than an
outsider. If you go to the SOS site, you can see where to sign up. and just
think you can be paid for doing it.
Gina Palandri
Election Judges Count
9/8
With all due respect (again) to Ms. Palandri, I hope she reads ballots more
carefully than she reads posts on this forum.
I said that being an election judge is a *voluntary* job. Ms. P responds:
> Nope:
>
> Election Judges are paid. All workers at Mpls Elections
> are paid. You can waive being paid if you want, you can
> donate your wages to a non profit ( I do every year to
> Planned Parenthood)- but we are paid.
Right - you do the job *voluntarily*, of your own free will and with complete
information about the duties expected of you, whether paid or not. You are
*not* dragged off the street; the service is not exacted from you against your
will; it's not even as onerous as jury duty. Indeed, you get *taxpayer money*
- and, whatdya know, I'm a *taxpayer!*
> "With all due respect, Gina - so what?"( Mitch B)
>
> Just know we are paying for this to be done. I think with
> the lack of true understanding of what all the processes
> are, and how much work an election really is, it's hard
> to make these crack of the tongue remarks that it's ok
> that we these folks that have to do a pile of votes for
> Lassie or dead cats, file them, document them, tally them, I
> am sure input them in the SOS website that, that labor could
> of gone for something else is hard for someone to
> understand.
Here's the problem, Gina; you start with a faulty assumption - actually,
several.
I DO understand the processes. I started covering elections as a reporter when
I was 16. I have good friends who are election judges. I know the system
EVERY BIT as well as you do.
You need to stop assuming that everyone who disagrees with you is an idiot,
uninformed, or operating from base motives.
And now we get into the scary stuff:
> "Half of it is to self-audit the
> system - to make sure my vote is counted. "( Mitch B)
>
> I think it's time you sign up to be an election judge.
"If you don't do the job, you have no right to complain". It's a logical
fallacy behind which every bad cop, every burned-out troll city administrative
employee, and every burned out person stuck in a job that other people depend
on relies on to try to impart guilt on anyone who raises a peep in complaint.
I might sign up someday (I've thought about it, but it's been completely
impractical for the past several elections) - and then again, I might not.
Either way, it makes no difference; we have the right to write in anyone we
want. It's part of our franchise, for better or worse; likewise, it's *part of
your job*, the one for which you volunteered (with or without pay) of your own
free will.
Either way, it's of no import to this discussion.
> Self-audit the system can be done far better by an insider
> who sees how the process works than an outsider.
Patent rubbish, and a little scary to boot.
I started writing in my cat BECAUSE of an extended conversation with a good
friend who is an election judge, a guy who told me "how the sausage is made" in
elections. That you (or anyone) would assume, for whatever reason, that I do
this for any less-informed reason says more about you than me.
But let's go back to your rather curious statement, Gina; are you saying that
the system is set up to be more transparent to "insiders" than to the mere
peasants?
Please - do explain.
Mitch Berg
The Midway
Mitch Berg wrote:
> I do *one* write-in every election, for my cat, always in an unopposed
> judicial race, always against a judge with an abysmal record on
> family-court/father's rights issues and/or of being a DFL pet. Half of
> it is to self-audit the system - to make sure my vote is counted. Half
> of it is to protest the judge I'm voting against. THIS IS MY RIGHT. I
> want to be able to ensure my vote was counted (which, in a
> DFL-controlled city, only makes sense), and I want to send a message
> to the noxious pustule in a judge's robe that I'm voting against that
> his/her presence is not appreciated.
Mitch is casting an identifiable vote. An identifiable vote is an
ineligible vote. While it may be a right to cast a vote, I do not think
it is a right to cast an ineligible vote.
Mitch suffers from an elitist view that the rules that apply to everyone
else does not apply to him. Write-ins complicate the count and frankly,
given low rate of write-ins do not do much to register a protest.
Anyone looking at the write-in rate as a measure of protest would have
to conclude that the level of protest voting is negligible. In the
Presidential race the write-in was .33% and in the Senate race the
write-in was .08 %.
The Independent Party vote is another issue. In the Presidential race
the vote was 1.04% and in the Senate race it was 15.16%. Obviously, the
recount may change the actual numbers, but changes about rounding error
would surprise me.
Mitch seems part of a fringe element lacking in any substance on the
write-in level. The Independent voters at the Presidential level were
totally lacking in any possible impact on the outcome. However, in the
Senate race they seem to represent a genuine dissatisfaction with the
Republican and DFL candidates and probably determined the outcome of the
election. However, after listening to protest voters interviewed by new
outlets, I suspect that the level of protest voting will drastically
lower in future elections. People now understand they were not simply
making a statement, they were actively harming a candidate they
preferred but wanted to "send a message to".
I agree with Gina Mitch. You too can be an election judge. Ramsey County certainly could use additonal Republican affiliated election judges. Yes you do have to declare the political party you usually support. That helps ensure that all actions are overseen by election judges of at least two political parties. You too can be assauled by angry voters who don't like the way their name is spelled on the voter roster but refuse to do what is required to correct the information. You too can work 16 hours or longer to ensure every eligible voter gets a chance to cast a ballot. You too can deal with partisan poll watchers whose only purpose is to challenge the registration of voters, some of whom have voted in the precinct for years, because of some common characteristic. and depending on the precinct you work in and the type of election, you too can spend any spare time, and maybe quite a bit of time after the polls close, validating and verifying absentee ballots so they can be processed. Note: In a couple of precincts in St. Paul the first delivery of absentee were delivered in multiple cardboard boxes. I don't know how many absentee ballots one of these boxes are similar to the onese your blank ballots are delivered the precinct at the beginning of the election. They contain approximately 1000 unfolded blank ballots. Come join us Mitch. wWe certainly could use your help. Mike Fratto Payne Phalen Please help those who don't get enough to eat. http://oyh.org http://hungersolutions.org The future depends more on what we do between now and then Than what we did in the past.
//You need to stop assuming that everyone who disagrees with you is an idiot,
uninformed, or operating from base motives//
What was that, Mr. Berg? Mr. Berg? Hello-o-o-o-o-o-o-o?
To settle part of this flap, election judges in Hennepin County are paid $8.75
an hour. They have to be at the polling station before it opens and they stay
until after it closes to do the work. That's not wages, that's an honorarium.
You could get better wages cleaning houses.
I do write-in votes very rarely, and only when the listed candidates are
grossly unsupportable. I write in people who could, theoretically, serve--still
breathing persons, all citizens, that stuff. It is not a satisfactory solution,
nor is leaving the slot blank fill the bill.
I wish for a system by which, under each category, "None of the above" is a
voter's option. That would mean that, post election, each party would have to
find other candidates who could serve, but that the position would remain
unfilled until such time as either there is another election or the parties
pays for a special election. It sounds hairy, but when you think about the
choices for US Senate last month... We were presented with a frick and frack
choice. None of the three really represented a way to get a functional federal
senate.