Chris d Craiker ALA/NCARB
With the pending election, I thought an update of a 2020 Architex Angle article would be appropriate. This is not about politics, but about the process of gathering our votes. In the 2020 national election, as a pandemic plagued the nation, each citizen had to make a hard choice about casting one’s ballot in the mail or appearing in person at a polling place. Votes were coming in from anywhere Americans called home: military based overseas, Ex-Pats in foreign nations and even a posting from the Space Station. Not sure how that was mailed.
The state of California has been expanding vote-by-mail options over the years. Napa with 90,729 eligible to vote has 84,845 registered, of which 71% are a combination of Republican and Democrats. This means 29% are Independent, a fairly sizable number of voters that ultimately decide elections. The 2020 Napa election turnout was 81%, with 96% of the votes sent by mail, well above national averages.
Local polling places have disappeared. Napa County has reduced its countywide voting stations from 9 to 8 with 11 drop boxes. In California, only San Francisco has neighborhood voting stations, mostly in garages. With 501 stations, the turnout was higher than normal and among the highest in the Country at 86%.
The easy simplified process of vote-by-mail, drop-off boxes, early voting, etc, cannot replace visiting your local voting stations where you meet and greet neighbors and perhaps share a much-needed smile.
Local voting stations can increase citizen participation across the board. Local voting stations, like local post office, are disappearing across the Nation. But they provide much-needed connections with the neighborhood. You just can’t be so divided when you meet and talk directly to people, regardless of their party affiliations.
In San Francisco each polling station has to be certified, have specialized voting booths and have qualified managers. No drinking and no partisan signs within 100 feet. The days of seniors and boomers solely manning the polling stations are probably behind us, and hopefully a new generation of young, diversified citizens can pick up the torch to carry-on.
Setting-up starts on Halloween and one must find remote car parking spaces. Of course, disposing of all the garage junk one collects might be the biggest challenge. Perhaps it’s a good excuse to clean out the garage. San Francisco issues parking passes for specific tasks such as parking for pollsters.
As a youth, my parents worked the local election station, that started by setting up at 4:00am. My best memories were enjoying the leftover cookies, cakes and pies contributed by the neighbors. My folks were always well treated, not like today’s threats and name-calling. And the neighborhood gossip flowed.
And yet the issue of election integrity is still paramount for many voters. Since the “Big Lie”, all voting processes throughout America has been highly scrutinized. Tension has been high especially in the so-called Battleground States, but not necessarily in California. There has been no evidence of wide-spread voter fraud, and yet the Republican Party admitted placing more than 50 fake ballot boxes around Los Angeles and Fresno in 2020. The biggest attempt at voting interference was in 2021 when a man stole 300 ballots from the Torrance Postal Service during a recall election. Fortunately, the ballots weren't opened and new ones sent to those voters. There are 58 county election offices, one for each county. The smallest is Alpine and the largest is Los Angeles County, the most populated county in America. Electronic voting is undoubtedly the future, but the neighborhood polling places could still be an essential ingredient of that transition.
Electronic vote meddling is still possible but the key will be personal, confidential ballots securely sent from the local polling station or iPhone to the County central office and then to the State starting well before the final election day but securely held and counted immediately after the election deadline.
Get ready for the 2024 election. It should be interesting.
Chris d Craiker ALA/NCARB will be dropping off cookies at all 8 polling stations on November 5th
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