Thread by @somethingfishie

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield Here's the scoop from the ground now.

Harris County (Houston) has 1000+ political subdivisions (precincts) and used to hold general elections in about 600.

Why so few? Staff and location expenses, mostly. (1/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield Election personnel were paid something between $8-12/hr in the past to work the 14 hour days on election day. The two parties recruited their judges, and the judges hired the clerks, and almost everyone was able to vote at a location near them on election day. (2/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield After 2018's D sweep and installation of a D County Clerk - administrator of elections here - a lot of things happened. Legally, the clerk can close down a certain number of voting locations and she did. She also installed voting anywhere on election day. (3/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield Voting anywhere on election day sounds wonderful. There's even a system for judges to report wait times at their locations, that are supposed to update the website so people can find a location without a long wait. It should work well, no? (4/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield Part of the problem is that staffing for primaries is different than for all other elections. Primaries here are technically run by each party - the parties pay for it, the Clerk's office administers it. The parties choose judges, the judges hire clerks. (5/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield With Vote Anywhere, now each location needs a full crew for each party, whereas in the past, parties could combine precincts in places where they had fewer voters. In a blue part of town, they might combine 4 neighboring R precincts. (6/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield And note, for primaries here, you need a full R staff for R locations, and a full D staff for D locations. In all other elections here, we get a judge from each party, then the presiding judge can hire the rest. Yesterday all the D primaries were run by D staff. (7/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield Also note, we have early voting for nearly two weeks before election day, and voters can vote anywhere in the county during that time. BUT, in a D primary with candidates dropping out every day, folks voting early risked voting and seeing their pick withdraw. (8/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield So you have a new system (vote anywhere) and tons of new polling staff without much training or experience, with fewer voting locations, in a primary with candidates falling out every day, and you can see how the lines got long. (9/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield My own day? The Clerk's office moved our entire staff out of our own precinct to cover a D area. So all day my R staff had it easy while the D side was steady. Everyone was paid $17-20/hr, too, so we were fully staffed. Ds had to wait while my R booths were empty. (10/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield The after work D rush was tough. The line started to build, and bottlenecked over people with issues. They were registered but not showing up in the system. Or they weren't registered in the county at all. This is important, because people get irate, but... (11/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield ...nobody really pays attention to their voter registration status until right before an election. In Texas, you have to have registered 30 days before an election to be able to vote in it. Many think about it too late. 9/10 problems voters have seem to be self-made. (12/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield I'll tell you what we did while all this was going down for the Democrats.

My team handled Rs and I went to the D line and helped. I called the Tax office to check registrations. I handled voters not showing on the software but who had a voter card in hand. (13/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield I fielded questions the D judge couldn't because she was awash in a sea of other voters with problems. I supported the hell out of my Democrat counterparts. I worked FOR them to get voters processed.

That's what we're here for, to help voters vote. (14/x)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield Meanwhile, I had a bank of mostly-empty machines that I couldn't use to let Ds vote, because they were set for R ballots. Which could have been avoided, but that would have required more training and is a story for another day.
(15/15)

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield Oh, but yeah, I want to add that none of the above ever really shows up in reporting. Media love to show long lines and holler suppression.

By a D County Clerk
Running D staffs
In her reduced locations
With Rs like me trying to help

Give me a break.

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield Links to FB posts referenced by @olsonleif (miss you, Bro!)
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@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield Something to add (I may just keep updating here, sorry)

Rs had a convention meeting after their primaries, whreas Ds hold theirs on another day. To participate, Rs have to go back to their polling location after polls close to get the materials and conduct the meetings...

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield I just received this email from a precinct chair that this happened at TSU last night. Probably wasn't reported anywhere, and this is the only source I have, but if it's true, this is awful.

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield Somebody asked me whether the election judges were supposed to shut down their lines at 7 when the polls closed. At 7, we are supposed to find the end of the line and put a clerk or other personnel there to Mark the last allowed voter.

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield These were all Democratic polling locations, and had no oversight from within their party. Judges should have shut those lines down, but there's really no functioning mechanism to force them to do so.

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield Is a Democrat voter going to complain that they arrived at 7:15 and was allowed to vote? And to whom would they complain? The Democrat County Clerk? The Democrat DA?

@olsonleif @StevenJDuffield At no point of decision for any of this was a republican involved. I believe Republicans were allowed to choose locations, but that wasn't hard and fast. My own location was moved, and I really didn't have any say in it.