Primary Election 2009 at Pittsburgh 4-8 (May 21, 2009)

Current mood: sleepy

What a snoozer! At the November 2008 presidential election, Pittsburgh Ward 4 District 8 had over 2,100 voters. In Tuesday's primary, I had 21. Absolutely no comparison. We didn't have a single customer before 9 a.m., and not once had three people in booths simultaneously.

The reason for that is simple: My district consists entirely of on-campus students at the University of Pittsburgh, and everyone went home after final exams a couple weeks ago. There were two absentee ballots to tabulate, for a total of 23 voters, but all in all, there was precious little to do all day.

It was a good exercise, though, in preparing the setup, operation and breakdown of the polling place. All the paperwork had to be done, whether 21 or 2,100 voted. My staff of five, including myself, had all worked together previously, so we knew each other to some extent, making it as much a social event as a day of work.

At a recent VotePA meeting, considerable concern was raised about reports of voting machines sneaking in phantom votes; i.e., maybe 450 warm bodies actually vote, but the machine records 455. This time, I counted ticket stubs, and did not find any discrepancies.

I may add more to this later, but it's 1 a.m. and I have to go to work in the morning.  Enough for one night.