There is an article in the WaPo today laying out some of the challenges for poll workers who are in charge of ensuring the election goes off without a hitch. I have always admired the dedicated, usually elderly, citizens I meet on election day. They work long hours for little pay and in every instance seem genuinely thrilled to help their fellow citizens participate in democracy. They are always pleasant and make me feel good about the act of voting.
Now comes the not too surprising news that some of them are feeling more than a little challenged by the shift to electronic voting machines. The story reports:
Goodman is part of the wave of hastily recruited Montgomery trainees, and at 73 he fits what elections officials say is the age profile of the average poll worker nationwide. Most are well into their retirement years, and the technology changes can be daunting for some of those who didn’t grow up using computers. That is why some states are looking to recruit college, and even high school, students to work the polls.
Goodman, a former NBC television news producer who lives near Rockville, said he found the jargon of the training session offered by the county Board of Elections incomprehensible and the technology overwhelming. It wasn’t long before his eagerness hardened to frustration as he realized the job of check-in judge was going to be a lot harder than he thought.
He’s no computer whiz, but given a bit more time he could manage, he said. In a single three-hour class, “there was no way to absorb all that,” he said.
Having sat through a training to learn how to assist blind voters in their use of these machines, I would add that you do not need to be elderly or a computer novice to find the training more than a little daunting. Let’s cross our fingers for a smooth, fair, and equitable election day.
At the intersection of the elderly and technology, specifically with regard to electronic voting machines is another significant issue. I was made aware yesterday, by a woman who has been door-knocking for the campaign that I work on, that many elderly people are afraid of voting on the new machines. This makes sense, however, she articulated it as a new form of disenfranchisement. I had not previously thought of it that way. I had simply thought that there would be a lag time until we had a population of voters that were comfortable and thoroughly educated on how to use the new machines. Perhaps this was naive, but now it is clear to me another way in which the move to electronic machines presents challenges in the short term.
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