I noticed that there was a hispanic gentleman who seemed confused and a republican judge "helped" him. I noticed that he was reaching towards the screen to "demonstrate" how to use the machine and at that time I yelled "while I am glad to see you are helping to explain how to use the machine I don't think that a live demonstration means voting on his behalf".

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My friend Gary sent me Patrick's election day story. It is  printed with Patrick's permission. His wife, Laura, is not yet an American citizen, and thus was not able to vote in this election.

 

I voted for Obama and if Laura could have voted she too would have adamantly voted for him as well. While I was voting there were judges who displayed their political alliances on their name badge. Well, as I was waiting in line to vote at one of the touch screen machines I noticed that there was a hispanic gentleman who seemed confused and a republican judge "helped" him. I noticed that he was reaching towards the screen to "demonstrate" how to use the machine and at that time I yelled "while I am glad to see you are helping to explain how to use the machine I don't think that a live demonstration means voting on his behalf". I promptly received a stern glance from the judge and as a result two other judges (Democrat) reminded the Rebulican judge that he was not allowed to be near the machines. (no judge was permitted).

 

My point is, all this happened in a short time (10 minutes), imagine repeated occasions in hundreds (or thousands) of voting sites in the US all day?

 

A quick bio, provide by Patrick: I am 28, married, with a son who's living check to check who was put in debt by a messy medical system. I am a Democrat. 

 

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It's not too late to share your Election Day stories with OpEdNews readers!

 

 

Authors Website: http://www.opednews.com/author/author79.html

Authors Bio:

Joan Brunwasser is a co-founder of Citizens for Election Reform (CER) which since 2005 existed for the sole purpose of raising the public awareness of the critical need for election reform. Our goal: to restore fair, accurate, transparent, secure elections where votes are cast in private and counted in public. Because the problems with electronic (computerized) voting systems include a lack of transparency and the ability to accurately check and authenticate the vote cast, these systems can alter election results and therefore are simply antithetical to democratic principles and functioning.



Since the pivotal 2004 Presidential election, Joan has come to see the connection between a broken election system, a dysfunctional, corporate media and a total lack of campaign finance reform. This has led her to enlarge the parameters of her writing to include interviews with whistle-blowers and articulate others who give a view quite different from that presented by the mainstream media. She also turns the spotlight on activists and ordinary folks who are striving to make a difference, to clean up and improve their corner of the world. By focusing on these intrepid individuals, she gives hope and inspiration to those who might otherwise be turned off and alienated. She also interviews people in the arts in all their variations - authors, journalists, filmmakers, actors, playwrights, and artists. Why? The bottom line: without art and inspiration, we lose one of the best parts of ourselves. And we're all in this together. If Joan can keep even one of her fellow citizens going another day, she considers her job well done.


When Joan hit one million page views, OEN Managing Editor, Meryl Ann Butler interviewed her, turning interviewer briefly into interviewee. Read the interview here.

While the news is often quite depressing, Joan nevertheless strives to maintain her mantra: "Grab life now in an exuberant embrace!"


Joan has been Election Integrity Editor for OpEdNews since December, 2005. Her articles also appear at Huffington Post, RepublicMedia.TV and Scoop.co.nz.