Elections Upset

Last night after work I went and voted. And I'm pissed. Very pissed. At one of the poll workers.

This woman was on a power trip or something, ordering people around yelling at people when they weren't sure where to go, just being plain rude and mean. This poor woman wasn't sure which table to sign in at because there were 4 districts in this one small room, and everyone was busy. She made the mistake of standing near the line of people who had signed in and were waiting to vote. This poll worker was SCREAMING at her that she's in the wrong line and she shouldn't be there and if she doesn't know where to go then she should ask for help. Like it was her fault that there weren't and signs and that everyone was busy and couldn't help her. Heaven forbid she stand waiting to ask in the wrong place.

But what REALLY incensed me was the incident with an elderly man. This man spoke very limited English. But he was obviously a citizen of this country as he was voting. (I DO think as a citizen of this country he should know enough English to communicate with the rest of us but that's a different argument for a different time.) ANYWAY, this poor man was SO confused about the voting maching, he was trying to make his vote but he couldn't understand the words, and the Chinese interpreter had stepped out to get supper. So this woman tried to help him but ended up yelling at him so much that he was more confused than ever. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" "NOT THERE" "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!" "THAT'S WRONG" "I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU THINK YOUR DOING" and on and on and on.

Finally she bursts out of the booth and yells "WHERE'S THE CHINESE INTERPRETER!?!?!" He went to supper. So instead of getting the interpreter in the next room she went on yelling that he was wrong he has to make up his mind, there are people waiting and he's delaying things etc etc etc. Finally the man tries to convey that he'll wait for the interpreter to get back. "Not now, I wait" He CLEARLY said that. I don't know if this woman was so dumb she didn't understand or so angry that she didn't hear, or so rude that she didn't care. But she told him "You're done? Pull this lever" So this poor man thinking he was cancelling things so he could vote properly later pulls the lever and makes whatever random markings he pressed down his vote. I was SO angry with her.

So finally while I'm in the booth voting the interpreter comes back and the man wants to vote. She starts yelling that he voted, he pulled the lever he didn't cancel things, he can't vote again and he should know that. People were in an uproar behind me. She's yelling, other people are yelling, the interpreter is trying to explain things to the old man, it was mayhem. I voted and left in the midst of it, I didn't want to get involved in the fight. By this point the voters and the other poll workers were yelling at the woman that she rushed him, she was wrong, she should have gotten the other interpreter etc. She's yelling that he should know he can't hold people up, that he should know what he's doing, it's his fault, she didn't rush him etc.

I left, but I was SO incensed at this woman. How DARE she rush this man, yell at him because he doesn't know much English, and make him vote mistakes when he CLEARLY conveyed he wanted to wait and vote later with the interpreter. And them blame him for it? I was really upset. There was no excise for this woman to be so mean and rude to this man, and then to yell at everyone else in the room that he was wrong and she didn't do anything wrong and it's all their faults too. OY! This was one GROUCHY woman. She was rude to almost everyone I saw her interact with, but this took the case.

And come tho thing of it, there were similar problems I can remember in the past. There was a woman who was EXTREMELY rude to me last year when I couldn't figure out where to go because the room was so small and crowded. I wonder it that's the same woman?

So my question with all of this is; Is there some way to make a complaint? To let the election board know what happened and to better screen and then train their volunteers to be helpful and not rude on election day? I felt SO bad for the poor man, he never got to make an educated, informed vote, and he was yelled at too boot. That should be prevented from happening in future. Any Suggestions??