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First of all, the worst part: my Republican co-worker. Dear GOD!!!! She might have been the worst person I have ever met in my life -- rude, abrasive, dismissive of the voters, and the process, and made tons of errors. Fortunately the whole thing is run two dems and two repubs so all her mistakes were caught and fixed, though it definitely slowed down the line. She single-handedly turned what is usually a pleasant experience for all into a very unpleasant one.
Secondly: people were not prepared. They didn't understand our state's delegate system. They didn't know you had to be registered as a Dem or a Repub to vote in our state's primaries, and they were full of righteous indignation when we told them they couldn't. Lots of people hadn't looked to find out where they were supposed to vote and showed up too late at the wrong place. Some people didn't even realize you had to vote where you live -- thought you could go to any old polling place. (Granted, some of these were young people who never voted before, so I guess that's a good thing.)
I felt that most people were just taking the whole thing for granted -- they don't realize how important it is to be educated about your vote and the process. I even thought, for a passing moment, that we don't deserve the democracy we have. :(
Oh, yeah: the machines worked great. But guess what: I live in NY, and we have 40 yr old lever machines. After this election, they'll be gone.
Positive thing: Democratic turnout blew Repubs out of the water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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