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Back from voter protection!
Polls in Wisconsin are open 7am to 8pm. I got to the polling place at about 6:40 this morning. The neighborhood where the school is was filled with Obama signs. I signed in, got an election observer badge, got set up off to the side, and started observing. Three people from Election Protection, a technically nonpartisan but in reality liberal organization, were also there. That was good because I was the only Obama person there and had never done this before. They were really helpful.
Overall, the voting went very smoothly. It was cool to see the election chief say, "Here ye, here ye, the polls are now open." During the morning rush, the line was at least 100 people long and it was taking about an hour to get through it. Everybody was patient and polite. When handicapped people came up, everybody was very nice about them cutting to the front of the line.
The registration line never got very long, but it was still awesome to see young people registering to vote for the first time. After about 11:00, there was little to no line at all to get a ballot. We have paper ballots that the voters feed into a machine; the machine broke for about 15 minutes. A lot of what I wound up doing was helping flag down election officials for people who needed some kind of assistance.
I did do one thing that kept a voter from leaving without voting. A young man had moved to a house in the ward, but he had never changed any of his mailing addresses. His driver's license, as well as everything else he had, had his old address on it. Because he couldn't prove his residence to register, he was going to just leave. I followed him outside, and he explained the situation to me. I told him that if he knew anybody in the neighborhood (who had proof of residence in the city of Milwaukee) who could swear under oath that he lives where he says he lives, he could register. He had no idea he could register with a corroborator, and none of the poll workers told him. He was back within about 15 minutes with his friend, who corroborated for him. As he was walking over to the booth with his ballot, he gave me a big smile and a half-hug and thanked me for my help. That made the whole day worth it!
Re: Back from voter protection!