One Woman, One Vote...or not

I picked up Honey last night and we headed off to the local elementary school to vote in the California primary. In the weeks running up the election we had been "called" by Sally Field, Magic Johnson, Barbara Boxer, nurses, firefighters, the California Democratic Party, etc. etc. We were coming home to five and six messages on our answering machine every night and getting that many more calls through the night. And then there was the mail. Buckets of mail. Yes on 81, no on 82, nurses for Angelides (did I mention the nurses? There were nurses who wanted to TALK to us).

So we get to out polling place and walk in the door. The nice and efficient woman at the first table looks us up and we're not on the roster. We check the address ranges and our address is within the range. Honey and I vote. Really. I may have missed a local primary here and there, but in every national election since I was 18, I have voted. Ditto the federal and state primaries. I've voted in Georgia, Maryland, and California. I'm a registered Democrat and always have been. Nope, not on the rolls. Honey either.

So we go over to the "green zone" table and the poll worker sitting there does not speak English. At all. I tell her my last name, she can't find it, because she does not understand me. When I tell her it's not on the page it supposed to be on (I look), she marks another name for me to sign. As Honey said, it's GREAT for California polls to have poll workers who can speak other languages. And having someone who is fluent in Spanish is terrific. But that person ought not to greet me, the Angloist Anglo who ever Angloed around. I'm pink. I speak a little Italian. I passed my written test in German for my PhD. I should know some Spanish. I know that. Still.

OK, so then we're shuffled off to address book lady. She's got a line. There's this old guy who keeps getting ballots out of a box, that say "DO NOT USE" on top of them. Then an independent wants to vote. Old guy give him a Peace and Freedom Party ballot. Then a Republican Ballot. Then an American Independent Party ballot. There's this big stack of ballots marked "Non-Partisan." He doesn't get one of those.

So Honey and I fill out the provisional envelopes. Because our address isn't in there either. We live at 13718. The addresses skip from 13717 to 13720. Cool. Did our house sink into something while we weren't looking? It was 6/6/6 after all.

After we vote, we go back to address woman. She's REALLY in to giving out the "I voted" stickers. Our ballots? She sort of throws them on the table. She doesn't fill out the "Poll worker" side. They're just sitting there on top of the "DO NOT USE" ballot piles. We start to walk out and I say to Honey that I don't think our votes are going to count. The efficient woman asks us if there's a problem. When I explain about the unsealed provisional envelopes sitting on the table, she gets up and finds them. She has us seal them and says she'll be sure they get taken care of. While she's doing this, she fusses at non-English woman, sticker lady and old guy. None of whom pay her any mind.

She gives us each a slip of paper and tells us that we can call in 30 days to find out if our votes counted. By which time we can do nothing about it.

And people wonder how voter fraud could happen.

Sigh.