Something Fishie Profile picture
Jul 15, 2020 25 tweets 5 min read Read on X
Yesterday I ran the primary in my neighborhood as an election judge. It's staggering how many people have difficulty understanding how voting works, and what a primary is. 1/
First of all, all of the people who dragged themselves out in 95🌡 weather were enthusiastic as hell. There wasn't any enthusiasm gap on the Republican side.

And they were eager to vote in person, as @less_tx noted. 2/
But in many cases, enthusiasm was met with disappointment, as many people who wanted to vote in races they'd heard about and seen advertised realized they were not eligible. They saw a high profile race and assumed they could vote in it. 3/
Now, I absoutely believe in personal responsibility, and knowing who you are eligible to vote for. People SHOULD do their research, and know who represents them.

But I am here to tell you that MANY VERY ENTHUSIASTIC VOTERS DO NOT KNOW ANY OF THAT. 4/
If I was working for a campaign or a party right now, I would be trying very hard to figure out a way to microtarget highly motivated voters and give them that information, tailored to their address.

Yes, it'd be expensive, but I'm pretty sure it would pay off hugely. 5/
ANd it doesn't really have to be that spendy. A simple mailer with 'Sample Ballot for Daisy May Voter' would be helpful. Your expense would be the personalization, but that might be able to be automated to a degree.

But a voter walking in to vote with that in hand is gold. 6/
That race all our people wanted to vote in got many of them in the door, but it didn't satisfy them, or meet the purpose they came for.

We got the sense that many of the voters left feeling like they had a bait-and-switch pulled on them. Long term, that's bad. 7/
The problem here is campaigns have a short life span, and a singular goal. That goal is sadly not to build a reliable party structure, educate voters, or recruit long-term voters for the party. It's to get one person elected. 8/
In Harris County, our Republican party is AWOL right now, absent leadership or direction after a difficult primary for county party chair. So who is going to lead?

Well, I'm going to do something; at least I'm going to try. 9/
I may be able to start only with my precinct, but I can send out letters before November telling the folks who vote regularly exactly what races they can vote for, and where they can do it.

And if I'm able to walk the area, I might not have to pay postage. Hand deliver. 10/
This is what a precinct chair or lead should be doing, and I'll be working with mine to do this. But it needs doing everywhere.

Are you that person who always researches what's on the ballot, or at least knows what races to expect? I'm talking to you, then. 11/
Even if you just picked a street or two near you and wrote letters to (say, if you're an R) the R voters or likely-R voters on those streets telling them who you are, who you support, and where they can vote, you will help them immensely. 12/
Voters who are motivated to vote WANT TO KNOW ALL THIS. They WANT to feel informed and ready to vote. You can put that in their hands, and do it for just a few dollars.

If you wrote just 50 letters, You would probably get at least half of them bringing your letter to vote. 13/
One friend of mine does it on a particularly bright sheet of paper, and keeps an eye out for the color as people bring in voter guides. He knows people are taking his recommendations in to vote. He sees it working. His choices usually carry his precinct. 14/
Look, if you're the one who researches candidates and knows what's on the ballot, you're probably the SME that a lot of people in your area need.

Especially in those down ballot races, where few people know anything about the candidates. 15/
The top of the ballot guys have all the resources they need, you don't have to worry about them. But county commissioners, boards of education, Justices of the Peace and suchlike are often overlooked and swept in and out by the waves created at the top of the ballot. 16/
Those down ballot offices have much more reach over you, though. And you should be able to reach them much more easily. If you multiply your vote with a recommendation letter, you can make those guys hear you better. Make them govern better. 17/
And this is the oldest school of old school GOTV plans, but some people need a vivd reminder that they can make a difference right here they are.

And right now, we all need that, I think. If you're in quarantine, spend a little effort reaching out to folks near you. 18/
It builds community.
It helps inform others.
It gives people something tangible they can be doing (off of social media!) to affect races in November.
It promotes informed voting.

And honestly, it makes my job easier as election judge. Not gonna lie. 19/
I had to explain to people why the presidential race wasn't on their ballot in this runoff.

I had to explain to people why they couldn't vote in that race with all the TV ads.

I had to tell people they had to go vote in their own county.

Help me. 20/
No social media company can squelch an effor like this.
Mainstream media can't get in the way of it.
Demonstrations can't shut it down.

Just make it easier for people to know what to do, and tell them directly. 21/
Tell them who is on their ballot.
Tell them who you support.
Tell them where to learn more about your guys.
Tell them where to vote early, or to vote on the day of.
Hell, advise them to vote early to avoid lines and crowds.

Just please help them. It's not hard. /fin
ADDENDUM: Democrats here had this figured out a while back. Before our county had vote-anywhere voting on election day, they would post signs at apartment complexes telling people the closest location to vote.
They also put out slick mailers introducing all their major candidates on the ballot, resumes, pictures, 'I will fight for you' quotes, the works.

They also explained WHAT THOSE OFFICES DID.

They actually explained what people were voting for.
Shame on Republicans for not doing that, and doing it first.

@kellyhorsley put that together for #teaparty in 2010, years ahead of Ds, but without the massive budget and marketing-slick look.

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More from @somethingfishie

Nov 10, 2022
So how about that Harris County Election Administration meltdown, eh?
I've tweeted about the failures of this office all year, you can catch some of it here

And here texasscorecard.com/commentary/cra…
You should know how I spent election day.
I worked on the Rapid Response Team that @HarrisCountyRP set up to support election judges and respond to election issues of all types.

My role was to man the phones for tech help and dispatch team members to polls where needed.
Read 34 tweets
Apr 3, 2022
We need to talk about this nonsense, right now. Pull up a chair.
Let me tell you about staffing elections in Harris county.

For most locations, you need a minimum of about 5 people, two judges and three clerks. The county typically staffs a location with 6 people, so we'll use that to extrapolate.
I did this math before, but we'll go over it again. In Harris County:

Election judges get paid $20/hr.
Alternate judges and clerks get paid $17/hr.
Both are eligible for overtime pay.
Read 37 tweets
Mar 7, 2022
Alan Vera, Chair of Ballot Security Committee for @HarrisCountyRP on whethr the Election Administrator's failure is due to incompetence or something worse:

"At what point does election incompetence become the perfect camoflage for election malfeasance?"
The wrong-sized ballot paper was delivered to some election judges.

Other judges weren't issued ANY ballot paper.

Some judges received broken election equipment.

Some never had their equipment delivered at all.

Most of these were Republican judges, Alan says.
Judges who were issued the wrong sized paper didn't know the paper was the wrong size, because they'd never had legal size paper before.

Voters who voted on the short paper ballots had up to FIFTEEN RACES CUT OFF. Those included the County Judge and County Commissioner races.
Read 17 tweets
Mar 2, 2022
It's the day after the Texas Primaries, and while we wait for the Harris County results (long story you can read about elsewhere) I want to put down some of my experiences.

I've posted about voters overcoming many personal and techical obstacles. Now some of what we faced.
First, Harris County removed election authority from the elected County Clerk a few years ago, and created an appointed Election Administrator, answerable to Commisioners Court.

As you can guess, a crony payoff position waiting to happen.
I'm not making that accusation, as much as saying it's a bad idea to make your elections authority an appointed position, no matter who holds the office. There has to be accountability, and I'm more comfortable with that coming directly from voters.
Read 36 tweets
Nov 5, 2020
When we check in a voter in Harris county, we scan their ID or perform a simple database search to pull up their unique voter ID.

If there are notes, like say someone needs to update their address, we see that and can help them do that before proceeding.
When a person has applied for a mail ballot, the system has a note there to that effect so that we'll see it if they show up in person.

We're supposed to have them fill out a mail ballot cancellation form and update the system so that it gets canceled right away.
I don't know for sure because I just started working early voting this year, but I understood that the voters weren't previously required to surrender the ballots during early voting. On election day, yes, but during early voting ballots can be slow to arrive in the mail.
Read 60 tweets
Oct 22, 2020
I've worked 8 days now out of my 17 early voting day schedule as an election judge in Harris county.

Most of those days I worked 6 am to 7:30 pm, with a half hour for lunch.

It's long days and paperwork and staff management and voter assistance.

And sometimes a joy.
The neatest thing is the number of stories I get to witness, the small slices of life I get to observe.

For instance, each time the team discovers a first-time voter, they announce it to the whole room, and everyone cheers and claps.

I often tear up at that.
Every location in Harris is required to have staff fluent in Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese, so I've spent a lot of time getting to know our language specialist clerks.

They have been busy all week.
Read 20 tweets

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