Domino Effect: A Vignette From Yesterday's Wisconsin Recall
[Image courtesy of masonsminute]
Yesterday’s Wisconsin recall is simply loaded with storylines big and small – but I wanted to flag a little vignette that popped up in a midday blog post about voting in Milwaukee on the Journal-Sentinel:
[C]onfusion arose at the Zablocki Library, when poll workers told some registered voters their names weren’t listed in the poll books.
The first time Megan Knudson went to vote, she was informed that her name did not appear in the poll book for Ward 260, and she was offered the opportunity to re-register.
“I chose to leave the polls,” Knudson said.
Redistricting is to blame for Knudson’s and other residents’ confusion, [Milwaukee Election Commission executive director] Edman said.
In previous rounds of redistricting, state law required county boards to draw supervisory district lines first. Then municipalities drew municipal ward lines and aldermanic district lines to avoid splitting wards between supervisory or aldermanic districts. Finally, the Legislature used the wards to build legislative and congressional districts.
But in 2011, the Legislature amended the law to let legislative redistricting take precedence, as Republican legislative leaders rushed to push their redistricting plan through before the first round of Senate recall elections. That forced county and municipal governments to re-draw their maps to conform to the state lines.
During the revision process, Milwaukee County officials accidentally left two city wards split between supervisory districts, one on the southwest side and one on the west side, Edman said. That included Ward 260, where part of the ward was temporarily designated 260Q, she said.
Poll workers in the recall primary were aware of the issue, but election officials forgot to tell those working in Tuesday’s election, Edman said. The workers did not know that a separate poll book had been printed for Ward 260Q and that it was behind the book printed for Ward 260, said Reid Magney, a spokesman for the state Government Accountability Board.
After she learned from the Milwaukee Election Commission about the Ward 260Q situation, Knudson returned to the poll at the library. She explained the situation to a poll worker, who found her name in the correct book.
“My main worry is that there would be many people in my situation, and they would not be comfortable advocating for themselves,” Knudson said.
Problems with the ward lines are expected to be corrected in time for the fall primary in August, Edman said.
Consider for a moment how many different things had to happen (or go wrong) in order for Ms. Knudson to encounter a problem at her polling place: out-of order-redistricting, rushed re-precincting leading to an unexpected precinct split, divided voter lists, a crowded (and volatile) election calendar and a failure of communication with (and between) poll workers. The end result, however, was at least one voter having to go the extra mile in order to cast her ballot.
This situation is a vivid reminder of how many different and far-flung pieces have to come together in order for an election to run smoothly – and highlights the challenge election officials at every level face in ensuring that they do, in fact, come together on Election Day.
There are probably just as many lessons to learn here as there were problems to solve – but for now, as the dust settles on the Wisconsin recall just in time for the Presidential election, it’s enough to recognize that election administration has become so complex – with so many different moving parts – that even the smallest issue can create problems for voters at the polls.