About Me

My photo
Nazareth, Pa., United States

Wednesday, November 05, 2014

You Should Thank Your Local Elections Office

I'm pretty bushed and will keep this short. I spent a good 15.5 hours yesterday working as an election judge. So did thousands of others. We get paid and we get to go home. The people that amaze me are the ones working in the elections offices.

In Northampton County, they managed somehow to put all kinds of complicated information together in an idiot-proof format for each judge of elections. When I had problems with voters who may have belonged somewhere else, the elections office answered the phone on the first ring, and came up with solutions in about thirty seconds. I had to send one young man away, who is registered nowhere in the state. But three other people were able to vote, thanks to the elections office telling them where they belonged.

After the polls had closed and I brought the returns to Easton, my work was over. Not the elections office. They will be going strong for the next several days, protecting your most basic right. They don't do it for the Democrats or Republicans. They do it because they believe in democracy. They believe in you.

Whether it is Tim Benyo in Lehigh or Dee Rumsey in Northampton, these are people who care. Without them, elections would be a disaster.

We take them for granted, and expect them to work for reduced health benefits, flat wages and reductions in other benefits.

That's just nonsense.

I'll be back to my regular miserable self tomorrow. I get nice when I'm tired, but a good night's sleep will cure me.

35 comments:

Anonymous said...

Must admit, I liked your great report on the hard work of election officials. I had to laugh when I realized it was just a prologue for your ongoing stale attack on John Brown. In fairness it was all you Bernie, predictable as death and Hell!

Reminded me of how you helped hound a former election office Director out of her job and attacked election workers judgment during the Gracedale referendum.

You are da man.

Anonymous said...

Well said! Thanks for your hard work, Bernie!

Anonymous said...

Sleep tight, and don't let trevor hog the covers

Anonymous said...

Bernie will you be doing articles about the 2015 Nazareth Borough council election? I believe six seats are up out of nine. I believe that NO time can be lost with getting the point across that all these law suits coming down the pike are the result of Chief Trachta, who's direct supervisor is Mayor Strye. Although nothing right now can be done. If we start to educate us the voters with better informed information with who will be running. We can make a much better decision at the poles. Right now I say vote all six out and vote in six new council members!

Anonymous said...

Yes I agree. It is important to educate voters in Nazareth. Do they want competent upright citizens representing? Or maybe check forging druggies?

The Sticker goons are over-reaching on this one. You will be seen for what you are,. Please run, you need a lesson in humility.

Anonymous said...

Geat report Bernie!

Anonymous said...

Ditto

Anonymous said...

2:58 received her lesson in humility numerous times.

THE observer said...

Bernie yes they work hard I have seen it first hand.......that said there is NO REASON for it to be as hard if this state would get into the new millennium and allow advance voting and or Internet voting I predict MORE peeps vote and LESS work for poll workers and in turn county election offices.

Anonymous said...

Two words - information technology. Books of decades old signatures, no early voting, no online voting. The process is archaic.

Bernie O'Hare said...

"Bernie will you be doing articles about the 2015 Nazareth Borough council election? I believe six seats are up out of nine. "

There are going to be big changes in Nazareth. The Council members who refuse to listen to the people are being tossed. I know of several newcomers, and we are going to register the townies that Nazareth Borough Council members like to sneer at. They had long enough to get rid of Trachta. Now it is time to get rid of them.

Bernie O'Hare said...

I'd support early voting. The signature books are by no means archaic, but they do slow things down. I'mo all for changes. So are most election offices, It exists in other states, including Texas. But Republicans here are scared to death of it.

Bernie O'Hare said...

2:24, In a few weeks, I want to meet and come up with a strategy to win this race. I believe the best way to do that is by registering the people that Fischl and others want to shit on - the townies they hate so much. They apparently are unaware this is still a democracy.

Anonymous said...

"There are going to be big changes in Nazareth"

Yeah, Callahan will win big.

Anonymous said...

"The Sticker goons are over-reaching on this one. You will be seen for what you are,. Please run, you need a lesson in humility."

This is clearly Mezzacrappy, skulking around in the wee hours of the morning as usual, high on some swill and wondering if she is the first person Jim Gregory will visit when he is sprung from state prison. As someone else pointed out, you've had multiple lessons in humility.

Anonymous said...

Good report, Bernie. I was attacked by a goon outside a voting location who was trying to push Corbett on me. Once inside, I related this to the election officials, who were very professional an non-partisan, but got a laugh out of this incident (without showing an allegiance either way). There's a lot of dedicated people like you, and the ones at the county, that we should be thankful for in making sure everyone's vote is counted and is accurate.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Thanks for the nice words, but I'm in it for the dough. It pays $200 and I'd stand on my head for 14 hours for that money. Title searching and doing reports for a weekly newspaper are no way to get rich.

Having said that, most of the people i've met don't need the money and really are quite dedicated.

I also really appreciated the voters, who were very nice and patient with us for the most part. One fellow asked if he got an "I voted" sticker. I'll have to remember that next time. One lady seemed very nasty but she just couldn't hear. An elections worker actually took her across the street to the correct polling place.

The place I was at is tucked out of the way and there were no canvassers there to make last minute pitches. But so long as they are 10' away, and do not interfere with people trying to vote, they have a First Amendment right to solicit votes.

The real heroes here are the people in the elections office. They put together everything you need for each polling place along with supplies and detailed instructions. It is quite an involved process, but they make it look effortless.

When I came back with the returns, i expected to have to stand in line for about 30 minutes, but there were tables set up for different envelopes.

I am happy to report that every m=person who attempted to cast a machine vote was successful. We were able to catch every person who walked off without actually casting the ballot. The machine makes a chiming sound when the ballot is cast, and there were about 5 people who we were able to send back into the booth.

I would have missed them all, but the people i was with were all pros. The elections office teamed an inexperienced judge with a crew that had done numerous elections in the past.

Anonymous said...

must be nice to work 2 out of 365 days a year, sit on your fat ass, and fraudulently try to take from other decent citizens who try to pull their weight in this world....

you are your own worst cheerleader

Anonymous said...

I was surprised by the high quality of the Northampton County elections office when I called there a while back. Someone told me that we had better report deaths in our family to the office, or else somebody was likely to vote under their name. My dear mother had died in 2004, and it had never occurred to me to report her death to the elections office. The woman on the phone was very pleasant, and she told me that they actually go over the obituaries in the paper, and when a death is reported they follow up on removing that person from the voting rolls. Now that is careful and professional work, seems to me.

Anonymous said...

Will Nazareth be taken over by check forgers and druggies or will common sense prevail.

It will be fun to watch the ne'er do wells mount their historic campaigns with O'Hare in command.

It will make the Titanic look like a rousing success.

Anonymous said...

1:31......at least he works unlike the west easton skank who hasnt been employed in a decade and sucks up governmnet funds. remember some people are givers and some (like the west easton skank) are takers!

Anonymous said...

1:31 is a bitter, uniformed clod. Elections is a year-round process not just 2 days. What a buffoon!

Bernie, thanks for your service as a JOE. The per diem you were paid probably calculated to less than minimum wage. Sounds like you had a good crew there who truly respects our right to vote.

Anonymous said...

A crush on that bitter, unemployed wrinkled old hag? Surely you jest!

Funniest thing I have seen today. You're trying to drag down someone who performs a valuable service to Northampton citizens in multiple ways, while you suck off momma's teet, libel and harass people like a bull in a china shop.

Thanks for the chuckle. You're always succeed at making yourself a good target of ridicule.

Anonymous said...

"successful" that is...

Bernie O'Hare said...

" it had never occurred to me to report her death to the elections office"

I notice forms for reporting voter deaths in my material. I'm not quite sue how yuou bring that topic up.

Anonymous said...

anon 3:01, Wow.

Your crush on this young woman is even more creepy than O'Hare's. What will people say?

Dost thou protest too much????

Anonymous said...

My dad was a diehard R until his death in Easton in 2002. He's ben a solid Philly Democrat since that day. Weird.

Anonymous said...

5:19.......yeah because voter fraud is so rampant. Total crock of shit!

Anonymous said...

Totally off topic, but has everyone seen the news that Lauer wrote a memorandum that the $20m LOC violates the bylaws? It's on LVL

Anonymous said...

No but that is very interesting. What will JB do next?

Anonymous said...

Great piece on the Dictator of NORCO. He may need a consultant to explain it to him.

Anonymous said...

Voting is the most important service the County provides.

Anonymous said...

"Voting is the most important service the County provides."

Depends on your point of reference. If you need the court system, it may be more important than voting. For example, some vindictive wretch is out to exact revenge on you, and attempts to ruin your good name at all costs. Dreaming about voting the incompetent executive out of office may play second fiddle to clearing your name by suing her pathetic ass in court.

Anonymous said...

http://www.mcall.com/entertainment/dining/mc-gp-easton-bacon-fest-20141105-story.html

Wonder if any of this are from West Easton?

Anonymous said...

The poison posse is at it again. When they say "boys club" they mean boys club!

Yeah baby!