Election 2012

I just voted at this location and while standing in line talking to another fellow teacher a man injected himself into our conversation and told me white people are ruining Church Hill, that the neighborhood used to be 99% black and we are ruining it, that there is a conspiracy, that he has to speak for all the felons not allowed to vote, etc. It was very uncomfortable and I almost left which may have been his intention. He would not leave us alone. At one point I did say thank you. I had heard him and that I wanted to go back to talking with my friend. In the end I don’t think he was allowed to vote because he wasn’t in line after his information was checked. This was very intimidating and upsetting to me. My friend and I had been discussing routine teacher stuff like grading, the Praxis test, etc. so I don’t think our conversation set him off. Has anyone else had this problem and what can be done next time?

#2 urbanpioneer, that sounds horrible. You should complain to the folks who work the polls if it happens in the future (if your friend who was with you could save your place in line, it would be easier than waiting until you got to the head of the line). (If your friend is not there next time, make friends with someone in line to save your space). You shouldn’t feel intimidated at the polls, ever. Also, it’s my understanding that there were to be lawyers and others observing today – another person to complain to. Four years ago I complained to one of the lawyers who was observing at 707, because one of McQuinn’s grown children was working the crowded line and it was making me uncomfortable. There are laws about how close to the polling place doors you can be and still hand out literature or try to influence the election.

I doubt your conversation set him off, is it possible he was drunk or had mental problems? Or maybe he was just a nasty person to begin with and happened to pick on you and your friend just because you were there. Interestingly, NPR just ran a story on behavior at the polls.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/11/06/164353389/voting-queue-etiquette-hey-buddy-that-s-out-of-line

FYI they are ticketing people for parking in front of voting station 707. There is a single no parking sign, but it is blocked by the other 20 people parked illegally, so I did not see it. Typical City of Richmond idiocy, biggest election in memorable history, you think you might want to think about the parking required. My ticket was for parking in a street sweeping area, are they seriously going to sweep the streets during voting? I doubt it. My two 911 calls this month about fist fights in the street where a kid was just murdered have both gone with zero police response, but I park in no parking for 15 minutes trying to vote and I’m ticketed immediately. What a shitty city to live in.

Bret, I’d call the first precinct and complain big time about that ticket. And go take a picture of the sole no parking sign and all that’s around it now while there is still daylight. Then you can send it to Channel 12 on your side and get a little noise out there about it. Seriously!

@6 check this out – http://www.nbc12.com/story/20021767/12-investigates-how-to-fight-a-bogus-parking-ticket

I voted at the train station and the situation there was grim as far as election laws go. Two people were wearing campaign stickers inside the polling place. Not 1 or2 but many and election officials refused to ask them to remove them. I spoke with one official and then the chief official , she said she didn’t think that was a law anymore and then tried to find something wrong with my registration. I’ m going to file a complaint with the Board of Elections. Clearly, the election officials need better training. The polling place had hundreds of people in line and were only using 4 of the 10 voting machines that were there. And yes, I know just how tough a job it is to be an official having done it many times myself.

@12 – Surprisingly, it appears that it is legal. Section 24.2-604 K of state law sounds as if as long as that person is there just to vote, it should be ok for them to wear. The law still prohibits folks who aren’t in the process of voting from wearing such items.