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WHO? Oliver. oof San Francisco again, Brooklyn before, Atlanta & Chicago wayback. RECENT: Mendocino The magical hour Something midwestern My Two Front Teeth oh yeah album titles Hello Summertime wow, i was tired Lists WRBC 2008 TRAVELS: Biodiesel trip across America (January, 2005) Paris (April, 2005) Election work in NM (November, 2004) ARCHIVES: July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 May 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 August 2003 June 2003 LINKS TO PALS: elly Toshok Pete Tuggy Workstatus Nathan Express Train SEARCH: RSS: Get your RSS feed here |
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What am I doing?So, I'm working in New Mexico. At election day, I'll have been here for about three weeks, and have driven well over 3,000 miles throughout the state (some with elly). I'm volunteering with a group similar to the Election Protection Program also link, whose aims are to ensure a fair and unbiased election and reporting process. It turns out that my Aunt Donna in Nevada (whom I really respect), and my age-old-pal Anurima in New York are both working on the same thing! My group is called "Voter Protection," and is an arm of the Democratic Party on New Mexico. I've been visiting voting machine certifications in about a dozen counties all over the state. What actually happens is that I show up in some random county in the middle of the night and crash at the nearest Holiday Inn (yes, I've tried many hotel chains, and these seem the most reliable here in New Mexico, but YMMV). The next morning, I seek out the County Clerk's office (some are really pretty like this), meet some nice person (usually an older woman), and go to the attic/jail/basement/warehouse to view their voting machines. I then stand around, or help out as the county clerk's employees install paper ballots, test out all of the lights, push the buttons, cast their votes, then compare a thermal tape print out with their expected vote tallies. If all goes well (eg: there are the right number of recorded votes on the print out), they seal the machine with tamper-proof seals, record the seal numbers, and we move on to the next one. It's really a pretty tedious process, but one that I really do feel is important to the overall Political Process to make sure that everything is above-board. I said I wanted to come here to work without ego, to do whatever I could to help, that I would be an indian among many chiefs. Since I've gotten off the road, I have held true to that: doing such exciting work as emptying the trash, building tables out of found wood and boxes of envelopes, shredding dcouments, buying things at Office Max, and doing silly little things that have to get done by someone! I'll do it! |
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