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Your Country and Your Party Need You to be a Poll Worker or Poll Watcher
If you are physically able to do so, I am asking you to serve your country and party on Primary and General Election Days. You can make a huge difference. You can see for yourself how the system works. I think that you will be relieved to see the lack of voter fraud, but I accept the possibility that you will conclude that there is voter fraud, and if so, I urge you to protect our sacred right to vote.
So how can you make a difference? Easy. If you are physically able, be a poll worker. That is a very, very long day. The polls open at 6 a.m. in Arizona but beforehand, poll workers must put up signs as to the 75- and 150-foot boundaries for people to stop politicking. After the polls close at 7 p.m., and the last person who was in line has voted, there are a series of tasks to do, read the meters as to the votes, to sign a number of reports, and to seal the ballots until they are picked up by law enforcement. It is a grind. And it is essential to be done well.
If you can’t do the entire grind, be a poll watcher. See for yourself how the system works.
I once served not only as a poll watcher at a specific precinct, but as the Republican Party’s roving Party Inspector which gave me the right to enter any polling place and observe. I spent all Election Day visiting precincts on the Navajo Reservation, putting hundreds of miles on my car. (30 percent of Coconino County is Native.) I have several observations.
First, I didn’t see any obvious fraud, but I wasn’t in precincts long enough to really see any fraud.
Second, there was a benefit to have a Republican Inspector show up. I was pleasant and courteous. I did hear that I was the first Republican Inspector to show up within memory. The is a value in the beat cop walking around and showing the flag. There was a smidgen of resentment by a few poll workers, but most people were friendly and pleasant, and several were proud to show me that they were running a clean and fair election.
Third, in every precinct, both parties have the right to have a poll watcher. However on the far-flung Navajo reservation, there were few Republican poll watchers.
Fourth, there has not been a Republican County Recorder in Coconino County for decades, if ever. However, the County Elections Supervisor told me that she really was really happy to have Republican poll watchers and asked me if I could help her recruit Republican Poll Watchers. I found her to be believable and authentic.
So there are three jobs that need to be filled. First, you could be hired as an election worker. Do the job. You will be paid only a smidgen more than minimum wage, but you are needed and needed now. Second, you can be a volunteer poll watcher for the Republican Party. If I had it all my way, every single precinct would have at least one Republican poll watcher. Third, seek to be appointed as a roving party inspector.
Please don’t just complain about voter fraud, do something about it! Suit up and show up, as a paid poll worker, an unpaid poll watcher, or as a roving Party Inspector. Your party needs you. More importantly your country needs you.
Published in General
Not a good analogy. Omitted by author.
I read Hugh Hewitt’s book, “If It’s Not Close, They Can’t Cheat” when it first came out. That inspired me to volunteer and get trained as a poll worker in Fairfax County, VA. As soon as my daughter Valerie was old enough she joined me. (My son Brian was off in college.) Valerie and I worked several elections, culminating in my running the precinct as chief judge during the Obama/Romney election.
It’s a long day but very satisfying. I highly recommend it.
I am so proud of you. I hope lots of folks follow your lead. They are needed.
To quote the Gipper, “Trust but Verify.”
Everyone should show up and do a fair job. I duly, endorse the civil ethic of this post.
If you want to have some influence, see https://precinctstrategy.com/ This site makes it easy to become involved in GOP politics. If you don’t like the candidates, get involved.
I have spent hours talking to Republican and Democrat activists. I have gone to many, many, many fund raisers where the truly committed gather. Many Republicans believe that many Democrats cheat at every opportunity. Many Democrats believe that many Republicans are committed to voter suppression. These are very, very, very deeply held beliefs. Republican activists look at me with disbelief when I say that I have seen Democrats do their job without a whiff of fraud. Democrat activists look at me with disbelief when I say that Republicans have no intention of denying voting rights to others.
To both groups I say, “Trust but verify.” Fraud is something that can spring up if folks aren’t watching. With lots of folks working at the polls, fraud won’t happen. Your presence will be a deterrent. Just keep your eyes open, and do the job to insure a safe and free election.
Back when I was working elections we liked to have a bit of fun with GOP poll workers. Flat tires, broken windows and stuff like that. Good times.
People still go to the polls to vote? How quaint.
Watching the polls on election day seems to be a bit quaint when elections are decided by junk-mail ballots mass-mailed to outdated voter registration lists, harvested by activists, dumped into drop boxes, and finally counted in locked rooms in the dead of night after the poll watchers have been sent home. It might make a marginal difference in a rural or suburban precinct, but in inner city Philadelphia or Detroit where precincts have 110% voter turnout and no one bats an eye, it doesn’t matter. Or in Fairfax or Butler county when voters show up on election day only to be told “Our records show you already voted by mail.”
Gary this is a Red hearing. Voter Fraud does not happen at the voting booth in person, period. If you ever bothered to listen to the evidence that is not where fraud takes place. It’s 100% with mail-in ballots. Just because 99% of counties had no fraud does not mean it does did not take place in a few Urban areas. So unless we were helping count mail in ballots or being an observer (which many people were not allowed in to due this). Its not going to change people who looked at the evidence’s minds. I am not saying it not bad to be a poll worker. However, if you live in one of the few fraud-ridden counties it an’t going to due anything to prevent fraud since they are not going to let you count mail ins. Also since a lot of the fraud is happening before the county ever gets the ballot returned.
When you’re right, you’re right. This is a good post and I hope it goes far. I wrote up my experiences doing exactly what Gary recommends and urges — https://ricochet.com/1086057/observations-from-inside-the-virginia-election/
It was enjoyable, rewarding, and exactly aas Gary describes.
You don’t have to be an expert. You justhave to show up. Honest, that’s the most important thing. Our absence permits fraud, and our presence prevents it with great efficiency. And, as Gary said, it’s important to get out and “show the flag”.
Huge LIKE on this post.
The County Recorders Office hires a bunch of people to process the votes. A former County Recorder told me that those extra people are often, but not always, people who are poll workers. I suggest that people consider seeking a temporary job processing the votes. Also, I suggest that conservatives seek full time jobs with the County Recorder or whoever conducts elections in your state or county.
I would love for us to have conservatives work in processing the mail-in votes.
I want to be a ballot box watcher in Georgia. I think those boxes need to be watched 24/7 by a Republican during the entire time they exist on site. They need to be inspected when they are placed on site. And they should be accompanied by a Republican on the way to the place that they are unloaded and counted.
Better yet, can you get a job with them so you are part of the process!
I urge every single member of Ricochet, those who I have agreed with and especially those who I have not agreed with, to apply to be a poll worker, if you are physically up to doing the job. I think that you will be relieved by the lack of fraud, but, damn, if you find fraud, I completely trust you to take copious notes and to root it out. I really mean it.
Here is my offer. If any one of the following four Ricochetti, Clifford Brown, Drew from Wisconsin, Philo or Kozak sign up to be a poll worker, I will do so also. After the primary and general elections, we can compare notes. All four of you are incredibly committed and spirited people, and if I am going to challenge folks to do something, I doggone well need to be willing to do it myself.
I totally agree with Gary on this.
I work the polls on most elections. My name is on the ballot, so that’s a no-go zone for me this year.
I wish you all the best. Running in 2012 was a transformative experience for me.
Best of luck. I might be reprising my role of campaign manager from seven years ago, depending on what my kid decides to do.
Mean but funny.
When I was working local Democrat politics I was constantly surprised at how petty and juvenile it was. But that seems to keep them in power.
Great post and I whole heartedly-endorse. I did some vote work twice– sorting ballots in high-school and once again a few years ago and while it isn’t the same as poll-watching it is very eye-opening to participate in the process. I’m not smarter or more enlightened for it in any serious way but it is an experience that gives you even more respect for the process and the difficulties involved, and for the people who come to do this kind of stuff.
Back in August 20, 2020, I wrote about registering a Trump supporter to vote. https://ricochet.com/789159/hoisted-by-my-own-petard/ I just had lunch with her. She has suspicions about the 2020 election. I encouraged her to be a poll worker, and she sounded open to it. It would be great to hear her point of view as well as mine.
I took the plunge. I called the Coconino County Recorders Office today and was transferred to “Elections.” I gave the lady my name. Her response after looking me up was:
“Oh, you are a Republican! That is great! We need more Republicans! We try very hard to have a balance and we need more Republicans! You have made my day!” (It has been too long of a time since a young lady told me how happy she was that I was a Republican, and that I had made her day by being a Republican!)
She asked if I knew where the Summit Fire Station was. I said that I did. (I had planted one of my campaign signs outside of the 150 foot limit when I ran in 2012!)
To do the job, there is a three hour training which is now online. There is a meeting on the Monday before the election. On election day, I will be working from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. I will be paid $190, which is less than my overhead. But this is an important job that needs to be done.
I will keep you updated.
That is a smart idea. We need more Democrats posing as Republicans to be poll workers. It will allow us to have more cheating.
Except that I really, really, really am a Republican. I have run for office as a Republican and I have been a Republican Precinct Committeeperson. I am just a Reagan Republican, not a Trump Republican.
And you would do just about anything to stop Trump.
Frankly, I don’t think he’ll actually run. Just saying that there exist decent grounds for squeamishness.
Sure you are. Go with that. Sounds like a good cover.
True, provided that it is legal and ethical. But shall we talk about what unites us instead of what divides us?
Have you signed up to be a poll worker?
I hope that you are right. The polls have been shifting towards people who describe themselves as “Traditional Republicans” away from “Trump Republicans.”
My tent is plenty big enough to include Gary.