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Were it a criminal trial.
Have you ever been a poll worker? The people aren't typically paid professionals, they tend to be partisan but usually not insanely partisan, and they tend to try to do the best they can. All of that means that they screw up--they lose count, they give bad instructions, they do silly things. And the longer the lines, the less recently trained the poll worker, the more the mistakes.
It's easy to expect humans to be perfect. We'd pitch a fit if our bosses expected the same of us and scream oppression and tyranny.
My experience isn't representative, but the two largest, most egregious violations of protocol (in NY State) were done by dems. Both a bit more partisan than average. The third by a repub, but with extenuating circumstances. We opened the polls at 6 am and closed them at 9 pm. That's a long day--esp. when some of the poll workers are in their 60s and 70s. (I was in my early 40s and found it trying.)
The one lost it because of all the people who were repub and said, openly, that they were voting repub. The voters can say anything they want to; poll workers must be non-political and all business. So a poll worker stood up, screamed how stupid all the republicans were, she couldn't understand how anybody could vote for * or any republican and pitched a fit, stomping her feet, shaking her fists, and wagging her finger in voters faces'. Well, there were lines--it was lunch. In a grange hall that had 4 precincts. My precinct table's workers locked down our booth, corralled the voter or two who had signed in and not voted and didn't let them move or let anybody join them in line. *Her* coworkers had to corral *her*, leaving their booth and table unattended. An hour later, lunch rush over, they were trying to figure out why their machine had more votes (I forget the number) than they had voters sign in, made worse when people came back after the lines were gone and said they'd signed in and left without voting during the altercation. Of course, the answer was clear: While she was pitching her fit, while they were dealing with her and calming her down, people at her polling station continued to vote. But did the voters who said they didn't vote vote or not? And who cast the extra votes--did they get in line and vote again? She was a ditzel.
The other time the precinct captain, ex-county committee chair, insisted on dealing with all the affadavit ballots cast by dems all by himself. (Later renamed 'provisional ballots'.) He had experience and didn't want any shenanigans from the republicans. Late in the day one of us newbies decided we wanted to know how to do it--dinner break was coming up and he and the experienced repub would be gone to lunch. So we watched with the flip card containing the instructions. We watched as he had the voter carefully sign whatever and put it in the envelope. We watched as he carefully signed the outside and said, "That's how you do it!" We asked him why he had the voter sign where it said 'poll worker' and why he had signed where it said "voter signature". And why, after double checking, it appeared that he had cast a dozen votes, because it would be his signature verified to ensure that the ballot was cast by a registered voter. He had a deer-in-the-headlights look. Either the BOE buys his explanation and accepts, unverified, a dozen ballots (or opens and verifies what's inside, which means the ballots weren't secret and confidential) or he voided a dozen dem votes. He'd been a pollworker for decades, but was elderly and needed a refresher.
Both of these are bad. Both messed with the validity of the elections. Both are violations of election law. Neither was prosecuted.
The third example is less egregious. Again, in a room with more than one precincts. In this case, two. So we banter. A couple comes in to vote, Russian speakers with very thick accents and limited English, talking in Russian to each other. The pollworker in charge, a repub, doesn't understand the surname they say. He tries, he fails, and he has them sign in the wrong places without checking their IDs. Then, thankfully, he said the name out loud and it wasn't close. I get the Russians' attention as I cross the room, ask for the couple's last names and first names, check the poll book, crossed out where they had signed in the wrong spot, found their names (while having the republican complain that I was breaking the law) and then asked them if the names I pointed at were theirs. They said "yes", I explained what had happened (I know enough Russian) and they signed in the right place. A few hours later another couple came in and signed, properly, in the slots were the Russians' names had been signed.
This didn't mess with the validity of the ballots. The people cast their votes and the paper trail was intact and, while splotched, was valid. Still, it violated protocol and regulations. The repub should have asked for IDs.
Shit happens. Every elections commissioner knows shit happens. They have split loyalties--to their poll workers and to the voters. So when something looks like a mistake, they assume it was a mistake. Just as the dem BOE commission for the precincts I was at didn't prosecute anybody. Don't know how she dealt with the probably legally voided ballots or the votes cast without corresponding entries in the poll book.
Destroying a soiled ballot before it was used? Ha. First, show that it happened. Then, show intent by the pollworker(s). Then show that the Mass. elections commissioner knew of the plot. Then you'll have a leg to stand on.
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