Was your poll worker wearing one?

Every poll worker was supposed to have been issued this adhesive badge and they were supposed to have worn it, with their names imprinted, for the duration of the time they served on election day. We’ve been assured by the Department of Elections that they were issued.

Many eye witnesses reported that poll workers at their polling place were not wearing them and so far, this investigation has yet to uncover a single person who saw this or any identifying badge being worn by official poll workers. This may seem like a small point, but for these two other irregularities:

1. The names of poll workers are supposed to be a matter of public record. In fact, local election law requires that the list be published in a general circulation newspaper in advance of the election. We were assured that this has been done and were told to search back issues of the Independent, a local, free newspaper. We did and could not find the list. Further investigation revealed that indeed the list had not been published. Therefore, over 2,000 people were working in polls around the city and there was and is no convenient way for the public to know their identity.

2. Most disturbing of all, eye witnesses reported individuals, always young men in their later 20s/early 30s, at numerous polls, wearing a well produced, laminated badge printed in bright orangethat read: “Poll Observer” (or “Official Poll Observer”) “Yes on D & F”. In one report, one of these men had his hands on the ballot box.

Of course, wearing such a badge is “electioneering in the polling place” and is strictly prohibited by law, as is an unauthorized person being near, let alone touching, the ballot box. The Department of Elections cannot provide us with any information on these badges or the people who were wore them.

If you know where we can get a copy of the bright orange “Official Poll Observer – Yes on D & F” badge, please write us.

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