Stock photo of a vote here sign at an American voting location with American flags in the background

Wednesday 09 November 2016

Yesterday I went to vote at the North Durham Library in Durham, North Carolina. I was number 16 in line at 0615 for the poll opening at 0630. The computer system at the poll said I had already voted even though the online database said I had not. I had not. I was not allowed to vote a regular ballot and was only allowed to submit a provisional ballot. By the time I left the polling place at 0745 there were at least two other people with the same problem and the election officials had not managed to figure out the “computer glitch” that was “making the computers act funny.” They made it clear that moving the line along was more important than insuring people were able to participate in the patriotic ceremony of making their voice heard.
I spent the rest of the day working with Democracy NC as a poll monitor at the Library in Roxboro, NC. I personally witnessed and reported at least two other people who said they were not able to vote a regular ballot because the computer said they had already voted. Another interesting observation was that around 65% of the people who showed up to vote at the precinct I was monitoring were at the wrong precinct and were turned away to go vote at a different polling site. The election officials were still sending people away to go to other polling sites until 7:19pm, 11 minutes before the polls closed. At 10 minutes before the polls closed, they started offering people who were at the wrong polling station provisional ballots.
The poll workers I observed were working hard to do their part to keep the system moving along.

17 November 2016
Michael Perry,
Durham County Board of Elections Chairperson
I am writing to the Durham County Board of Elections to advocate on my own behalf concerning the provisional ballot I cast in this recent general election. I was on time at the correct polling place and was not allowed to vote a regular ballot. Please consider the following narrative of the event when considering the provisional ballots.
Respectfully,
Peter Crispell
On Tuesday 08 November 2016 I went to vote at the North Durham Regional Library in Durham, North Carolina. I was number 16 in line at 0615 for the poll opening at 0630. The poll worker I was assigned to (Tony) said that the computer system at the poll indicated I had already voted even though the online database said I had not. I had not. I also spoke with the chief judge for the polling site. I was not allowed to vote a regular ballot and was only allowed to submit a provisional ballot. By the time I left the polling place at 0745 there were at least two other people with the same problem and the election officials had not managed to figure out the “computer glitch” that was “making the computers act funny.” They made it clear that moving the line along was more important than insuring people were able to participate in the patriotic ceremony of making their voice heard.
The chief judge said I could call the board of elections in 10 days and find out if my vote counted.

18 November 2016

Update to yesterday’s post. This morning Daniel from the Durham board of elections called me concerning my inquiry yesterday. He had specifically pulled my provisional ballot and said based on all of the information he had he was recommending my ballot to be counted by the board. He also took the time to answer some of my questions and explained some of the steps they took on Election Day to overcome the troubles they had with the computers early on. I was really impressed that they took time to call me on a day that they were also dealing with the deadline for the governor’s race count which required them to research every provisional ballot in less than 10 days. Those folks have been working their tails off. Despite some of my deep dark doubts, it’s still exciting for me to participate in this experiment we call democracy. It was a relief for me to know my vote counted and blew my mind that they called to tell me personally!