Takin' the Blog for a Walk

If you saw us on 12

Posted by Brien Lee on Nov. 3, 2010

helping, politics

A camera crew from 12 News showed up at Waukesha's District One poll station at the Elk's Lodge on Springdale at some point in the morning. If you happened to watch, (First District is in the slideshow on their site starting with first photo - I'm pictured in slide 12) it was nothing compared to just a few hours later.

I was the busiest guy at one of the busiest places in the city yesterday. 1700 voters; one tenth, or 170 of which were new registrants or name / address changes. We had to call for more registration forms twice and ballots once.

We weren't the busiest district in the city, but it sure seemed like it at times. We had lines in the morning. Lines were longest in the afternoon and registration was close to 30 deep. Our last voter showed at 7:59 p.m. while we were closing the doors. 

It was a good first experience for me being chief inspector and first time working another district. I felt, with Gina Kozlik, Deputy Clerk / Treasurer's, help and the help of my seasoned poll workers, that things went pretty smoothly. Our machine didn't break down like the one at Waukesha North, but it did keep us very busy with rejected ballots. I was very happy with a lot of things including the location - Waukesha's Elk's Lodge - very warm and inviting. Very happy we didn't have shift changes with the poll workers; six of seven starting at six in the morning were still willing and able to stay after midnight the next day to go over and correct paperwork.

I don't know how many voters or new registrants they had at Hawthorne, my home district, but there's no way they approached the 170 new registrants we had. I mentioned Monday that I hoped voters didn't wait till Tuesday to register. How to explain one tenth of total voters were newly registered or name / address change? Think about the First District over by Springdale and East Main. There's tons of apartments, and people in apartments are more mobile. I just wish if they'd waited until the day of to register that they would bring the correct proof of residency. Many did, some more than enough, but there's alway the few.

I also mentioned Monday that lines were probably expected to be lower closer to 8:00, and I was correct. Throughout the day we barely had enough time to take a sip of water, but between 7:30 and 8:00 there were times we had no voters in line at all.

I gave up my chance to vote yesterday so you could, and I'm glad you showed up. It made it all worth while.