Santa Ana, Calif., Volunteers Discuss Ways to Improve November's Election Day

By Peter Larsen, The Orange County Register, Calif. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

 

Apr. 4SANTA ANA, Calif. - Yes, it's nice to be thanked and it's nice to be fed, most poll workers agreed at a barbecue Saturday in appreciation of their volunteer work.

But it's nicer still, many said, to be asked their opinions. What went well in the March election? What went poorly? And what can the county do to improve Election Day come November?

"If they hear anything we're saying today, it will help," said John Speak, who with wife Pat worked a Dana Point polling place in March.

The discussion held Saturday over hamburgers and hot dogs or in small groups gathered in conference rooms has much importance for future Orange County elections.

The debut of electronic-voting machines in the March primary resulted in at least 1,200 people voting in the wrong precinct, casting more than one ballot or leaving the polls without voting at all.

And most of the problems seem to be the result of human errors not voting machines.

Many of the 1,300 poll workers who attended the barbecue said they thought the machines worked well, but their newness to both poll workers and voters contributed to reported problems.

"You don't get enough training in one hour that wasn't enough," said Matty Sobel, who worked a polling place in Laguna Woods.

Her three lunch companions who worked polls in Laguna Woods, Tustin and Buena Park agreed that more training would have helped.

"You need more training on how to use the machine not to be scared of it," said Artie Kirk, who helped voters in Buena Park. "I was at first. Now I've done it, I'm not."

A few tables away, Barbara Frisbee of Santa Ana said her polling place opened late partly because of her confusion over when to turn on the electronic machines.

"I feel like it was kind of my fault," Frisbee said. "Either I didn't listen well enough in the training or they should have gone over that a little better in the class.

"It'll go better in November," she promised. "One reason is we've had this experience in March.

"And another is this," Frisbee said, pointing to the questionnaire she and other poll workers were asked to fill out. "They're going to use the information we're giving them today, they'll read this and I think we'll all be better off."

Orange County Registrar of Voters Steve Rodermund, whose offices were opened for Saturday's barbecue, said that's perhaps the biggest reason why the county decided to hold the event.

"It gives us the opportunity to learn what went right and what went wrong," Rodermund said.

"So that we're not just doing an ivory tower kind of thing: 'We think this is what went wrong, here's what we'll do, fix it.'

"We want to learn from them what they experienced," he said.

Rodermund said he hopes to repeat this first poll-worker barbecue which drew 2,700 people, including spouses and family members to make sure the workers know how appreciated they are, and to help recruit more workers, too.

Though some most prominently State Sen. Don Perata, D-Oakland had criticized the county for spending money to honor poll workers after an election with voting flaws, county officials said they believe the $22,000 cost was well worth the knowledge gained and the appreciation shown the hard-working volunteers.

"Come on out and help us see what it's like," said Ralph Swanson of Anaheim to anyone who might begrudge the appreciation shown him and his fellow poll workers.

COUNTY POLL WORKERS met in discussion groups at a barbecue Saturday to share their thoughts on the March primary election what went well, what went poorly, and what changes are needed before the November general election. Their answers included:

THE GOOD: The electronic voting machines operated smoothly in most precincts.

Setting up and closing down the polls was fast and easy to do.

Student poll workers were a big help.

The voter instruction sheets were a helpful tool.

THE BAD: County procedures and equipment training were fragmented.

Poll workers operating the Judge's Booth Control the main voting device needed more training, and the promise that only county workers would operate the JBC machines was not fulfilled.

Better instructions on how to handle both independent voters and provisional ballots were needed.

THE IMPROVEMENTS: Make clearer which precincts are assigned to specific polling places.

Add another poll clerk and an inspector to each polling place.

Make sure all poll workers get the same amount of training and allow more time to train on the voting machines.

Improve the education of voters on how to use the new machines.

Have a demonstration voting machine available at every polling place to help voters understand how to use it before actual voting.