COMANCHE COUNTY, Okla_There were over
30,000 voters in Comanche County Tuesday. For some, the voting process was a
breeze, in and out in five minutes, but most voters faced lines that snaked out
doors and around buildings. At one precinct, the average wait time was over two
hours. Many voters were asking why some polling stations were practically empty
and some were backed up for blocks.
Monica Baughman
said overall, things ran smoothly or as smoothly as they can on a day as hectic
as Election Day. She said the phone was ringing off the hook with people asking
questions, and complaining about wait times. Today, we gave her a chance to
explain.
7News was out
at a polling station for about four hours, watching the line crawl, slowly but
surely, until every voter had cast their ballot. There wasn't a mad rush in the
middle of the day the problems start before the polls even open.
"The
polling place doesn't start voting until 7, but we had people lined up at 5:30
and 6 in the morning. Some of these large precincts already had 100 to 200
people waiting in line, before it even opened to vote. Those workers at the
polling place are never going to catch up."
While we were
out we heard over and over again these questions: Why are there not more
workers? Why can't they split the line up?
We didn't have
those answers but Baughman did, and it's black and white.
"A
precinct polling place cannot have two House lines, or two Senate lines, or two
Commissioner lines within one precinct. I can only have one set of workers
working each precinct and I can only have one poll book at a polling place. It
can not be split up, it has to be bound in one book. Our hands are tied on
that."
There is no way
to even out the precincts, even on Election Day. The State House and Senate
determine them every ten years and they are set in stone.
"We have
some large precincts, and we have some real small precincts. The ones that got
out in a few minutes, maybe had 200, 300, 400 or 700 people registered. Our
heavy precincts are MacArthur Middle School, Elgin,
Cache, St. Paul's United Methodist
Church on 38th street. All
those places have anywhere from 2,800-3,400 registered in those precincts."
Baughman said
her most of her volunteers are retired, some in their 70's and 80's. She said
voters took their frustration out on them.
"They were
yelled at and cussed at and pens thrown at them because they're slow or they
can't hear."
Baughman will
never understand that behavior, she has something to say to those who complain:
in four years, volunteer to work a polling station and see what it's like.
"I'm proud
of them for staying in there and lasting all day and putting up with the
complaints. We had new machines, and we did not have one problem with any
machine."
Monica Baughman has worked at the election board for 26 years. She said
some of the Election Day volunteers have been there longer than she has. There
is a huge demand for volunteers every election season, but only the trustworthy
and dedicated need apply.
If you're interested in getting a taste of what goes into running a
polling station, give the election board at the Comanche County Courthouse a
call.
