General Election Poll Site/Hotline Operation
by kace
Posted on November 3, 2009
On November 3, 2009, the Korean American Voter’s Council (KAVC) organized and conducted a Voters’ Hot line to assist Korean American voters with questions or issues pertaining to the elections that day. The voter hot line was open from 6am to 9pm, parallel to the opening and closing of the polls.
Various issues that required KAVC’s intervention surfaced on the election day. Firstly, there was a serious shortage of Korean interpreters throughout the polling sites. For example, in PS 46 (Bayside), the designated Korean interpreter did not show up at all and caused a critical vacancy. A voter reported the problem via the KAVC voters’ hotline. KAVC responded immediately by making an urgent announcement through Korean Radio Broadcasting station to organize Korean interpreters to PS 46. In addition, an interpreter stationed in Woodside was quickly transported to PS 41 in Bayside because the site also lacked any Korean interpreter. At that polling site, one Korean American voter who came to vote also volunteered to become an interpreter and aided many other voters in the process. However, in Whitestone and College Point district, there were many Korean American voters who called KAVC’s hotline to report the discomfort of not having any interpreter at the poll site. On that afternoon, the KAVC contacted the Board of Election and learned that out of 74 total poll site where Korean interpreters were needed, there was a shortage of 20 interpreters. This resulted in some poll sites not getting any interpreters at all. Taking standby agents into account, at least 60 to 80 more Korean interpreters were needed to stabilize the poll sites.
At the poll site, many of the poll workers were not properly trained. This caused various mistakes to be made at the poll site, and threatened whether the votes were counted or not. In Old Tappan, NJ, one Korean American voter went to his designated poll site with his sample ballot. However, the poll worker could not find the voter’s name in the list. The poorly trained poll worker asked the voter if he has registered to vote, and if this was the voter’s correct poll site. The confusion went on for almost 15 minutes until the voter’s name was eventually found. Though the sample ballot included all necessary information to locate the election district for a voter, the poll worker failed to utilize the information on the sample ballot. In a similar incident in College Point, NY, one poll worker could not find the designated election district for a Korean American voter, causing a prolonged confusion and frustration at the poll site. After searching everywhere, the poll worker found the name of the voter, thus allowing him to vote. These events illustrate that the poll workers should be trained and prepared much more before working in the election poll sites.
Another problem on the election day was that many Korean Americans still did not understand the procedure of voter registration process. As of writing of this post, there has been five Korean American citizens from NY and NJ who asked if they could register to vote during the Election Day. To able to vote, all citizens should have finished their voter registration before the registration deadline, which was Oct 25 for NY residents and Oct 21 for NJ residents.
In addition, Korean American voters in District 20 asked if they could vote for Mr. SJ Jung. The voters were not aware that SJ Jung had withdrawn his candidacy for the general election.
Many voters asked what they have to do if they did not change their addresses after moving. If the voter moves within a county, they can go to their new poll site with any statement showing their new address (e.g. bank statement, utility bill, identification card, etc.) and vote using an affidavit ballot. However, the affidavit ballot is more vulnerable to rejection because it does not get counted right away; it goes through the process of the Board of Election committee checking up on each ballot and taking out any ballot with any minor mistake. To ensure that one’s vote is protected, the voter should immediately update their address before the voter registration deadline and vote using the voting machine.
Besides the lack of information and resources, there were also incidences of severe tension between voters at the poll sites of District 19, where Mr. Kevin Kim was running as a candidate. As Mr. Daniel Halloran, the Republican candidate, brought up racial issues that depicted the election as Asian vs. White rather than Republican vs. Democrat, the general climate of the polling sites heated up. Out of the white voters, who were the majority in the voters’ turnout, some made racial remarks that caused the tensions between the two groups to mount. Even before the election, one voter reported that piles of Kevin Kim’s campaign posters and signs were torn off and discarded on the road of Cross Island Parkway, Bayside. This incident seems to have been done by those who were discontent by the fact that an Asian candidate was running in District 19. This can be seen as infringement of freedom of expression of Kevin Kim supporters. Even before the election day, candidate Kevin Kim had been experiencing racial conflicts and remarks during his campaigns.
One example of such conflict was reported by one voter at around 6:30 pm on the election day. This voter had called the KAVC hotline before going to his designated poll site to ask what he had to do if he had moved from Kew Garden to Flushing but did not update the change in his address. The KAVC hotline guided the voter to bring any statement showing his new address before going to his new poll site at St. Andrews Church in Flushing. The voter complained that at the poll site, one of the poll workers told the voter that the poll site does not accept an affidavit ballot. Several poll workers approached the voter and told him that he cannot vote today, but can only change his address. Regardless, the voter argued with the poll workers for almost 30 minutes before he was finally allowed to vote through an affidavit ballot. The voter thought this frustrating event occurred because the Caucasian poll workers wanted to stop Asian voters from voting for candidate Kevin Kim. That day, there were many voters’ accounts of witnessing lack of goodwill toward the Asian voters from the poll workers at St. Andrews Church. KAVC immediately took action by contacting the Federal Bureau and Board of Election and placing federal law inspectors at St. Andrew church that day.