Poll Work is Real Work
Witnessing voter suppression in real time
Notes from the April “non-partisan” elections in wild Western Wisconsin.
Being an election judge is no joke.
A young woman walks into the polling place for Wards 3 and 4 in Menomonie, Wisconsin, where I sit behind a table fulfilling my role as one of five election judges for this site. She has two signed, witnessed, and sealed absentee ballots in her hand. “Who do I give these to? These are my parents’ ballots.” One of the other judges gets up and explains to her that the new rule is that the only person who can deliver an absentee ballot on election day is the voter. The woman leaves and doesn’t come back with her parents. Two votes were prevented by that new rule.
Another woman comes in visibly angry. She is shaking. I can hear the emotion in her voice, coming through her mask. She has her own absentee ballot in her hand, and she really wants to talk to us about how mad she is that she has to walk into the building to deliver it. There had been a ballot drop box outside for previous elections. We did not make the new rule, but we sure do hear about it.
In the morning shift, a man becomes upset that he is asked to state his full name and address. He refuses. He ends up showing all five election judges his driver’s license, even…
