guardthevote

Cincinnati - Election Day

It was rainy and warm today when I headed out to the polls. I was assigned two 4 hour shifts in an area I had canvassed on Sunday. This morning we learned that an injunction had been granted allowing challengers to enter the polling places. This overrode the decision we had cheered on Monday. One good thing was that challengers had to show cause; they couldn’t just challenge people because they had their names on a list. We had one Democrat and no Republican challengers at our poll sight so challenges were not an issue.

Long Day in the Stronghold

What an exhilarating, eye-opening, soul strengthening day this has been! There was a point last week that I thought, 'I don't have time to go to Philadelphia!' and wished I hadn't been so ambitious. Now, at the end of a long and tiring day, I can't imagine wanting to do anything else on Election Day.

Democracy Training

It was a fabulous revival of sorts, a pep rally for citizenship. In the vast sanctuary of Holy Ghost Headquarters, 1000 people gathered to get trained by The Election Protection Project on some of the finer points of Pennsylvania law as it relates to voters. An additional 500 people were training at another spot, for those of us working in divisions (as voting areas are known in Philly) where voters speak primarily Spanish. Finally, the moments were ticking down toward 6 a.m.--when we'll have to report for work. Perhaps for the only time that we're all here, Unitarian Universalists--ordained and lay--gathered for this group shot.

Cincinnati Day 3

Cincinnati Day 3 – Nov 1, 2004

Today dawned rainy and a bit colder than past days. We reported to headquarters at 10am and divided into two groups. The “creatives” went off to create posters for a “Honk and Wave” session to be held at noon. The rest of us formed an assembly line and put together packets of papers which would go to the precincts on Tuesday. Each packet contains copies of the voter’s bill of rights to be distributed to all who vote, forms for reporting problems we observe, forms for reporting challenges, and warning forms to give people who are intimidating voters. I was on the crew to pack the precinct boxes and in addition to the packets we put in highlighters, pens, pencils, and cameras for documenting harassment. We also put in a 100 foot piece of string. Tomorrow morning they will also have food and cell phones added to them.

Gathering the Spirit--and the Troops

You'd think that an extra hour of sleep would help me get myself together enough to get to church--but you'd be wrong! As it was, I barely arrived at First Church Philadelphia in time for the morning's sermon on Halloween and our all too human responses to mortality. Seeing the ministers, Holly and Ben, was wonderful; so was the chance to look around at a big old historic church that is even older than the one I serve. One of the congregation had home hospitality to offer to members of the Winchester MA. congregation arriving here Monday afternoon. I was glad to take the information before I leaving for an afternoon on the phone, calling first-time voters.

Cincinnati Day 2

Cincinnati Day 2 - Oct 31, 2004

Today we gathered at 10am for information on canvassing. We had a team of five; two UUs from Bloomington Indiana, a woman from Seattle, a woman from Cincinnati and me. We divided the precinct in half, exchanged cell phone numbers and set out. Our task was to approach anyone we saw and give him/her a copy of the Ohio Bill of Voters Rights and let them know what to do if their right to vote was challenged. The people here have been besieged with canvassers and are sick of talking about Kerry and Bush. They generally looked down as we approached.

I started my spiel by saying I bet you are sick of canvassers and then quickly let them know I was just here to give them information about their rights. Ilet them know what to do if challenged, also to demo the smocks we would be wearing at the polls so they could recognize us and get help if they needed it. With that said,people gladly took the leaflets and often engaged us in conversation.

Cincinnati - Day 1

Cincinnati - Day 1 – Oct 30, 2004

I enjoyed my trip to Cincinnati today. Rain had been predicted and when I awakened to thunderstorms – I reset my alarm. When I finally packed up and took off I was rewarded with a beautiful morning for a drive. I have grown to love the longish vistas, and various shades of brown seen in the fields of Indiana and this day I also was treated to blue skies and dashes of red and yellow. I arrived about 2pm (4 hours and 1 time change later) and went directly to the AMOS offices located in Clifton to see if I could be of service.

Settling In

It was a long drive from North Carolina to Pennsylvania today, made longer by the series of traffic jams and accidents we seemed to encounter in every state. It did help, though, that Bob's parents were so cheered by our visit; come to think of it, seeing them made me feel better too. But about nine hours after we got in the car down South, I had kissed Bob and the boys good bye, retrieved the family van, and made my way to the Best Western Center City Hotel in Philadelphia, one of the unofficial resting places for Election Protection volunteers like me.

An Important Detour

Bob's dad faced a scary medical procedure this week, and so in the midst of everything else, we took the kids out of school and drove the 500+ miles to Winston-Salem. I'll head to Philadelphia from here, and so all my junk took up a fair amount of trunk space. It was a long ride, made even longer by the serious purpose of the trip.

Getting Ready

Thurs. Oct 28th
In September a friend from high school sent me an email about election protection. I was hooked and signed up immediately and went through the initial training. I live in Evansville IN but there will not be election monitoring set up in Indiana so I asked to be sent anyplace I could drive with my first choice being Cincinnati. I asked to be sent to Cincinnati because gracious UU colleagues have offered to house me.