Right the fuck out in the open, too.
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They wouldn’t. And these aren’t really prospective poll workers these candidates were talking to. They were supporters. They were encouraging them to volunteer as poll workers. These people don’t have the foggiest clue what goes on at the polls. The only thing that could possibly make them think anything “they don’t like” was happening is if the people coming in to vote look like Democrats. And what does that mean? Hmmm. I wonder…how could they possibly decide someone looks like a Democrat? If there’s a story on election day of a poll worker unplugging a machine after a bunch of people of color walk into a polling location, remember this article.
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you know, it’s one of those things: anyone can do it! if you can afford to make the time to DO it, of course. all you have to do is fill out some paperwork and apply, and my guess is they rarely say no.
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Have these two been charged?
And these “volunteers” barred from the working at the polls?
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Other things that would attract their attention: someone wearing a mask, someone looking too poor, someone looking too affluent, someone looking like they might come from out town, someone who is from the same town, but doesn’t go to their church…
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I’m confident she will. I’m hoping she doesn’t have to wait for a complaint from the relevant city or county clerk before she begins investigating.
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Last polling here, no mask, no entry into the location. We did provide curbside voting and were happy to assist people in any (legal) way, no judgement, but masks were required. They didn’t have to be tasteful, of course, but they could not be construed as direct endorsement of a candidate. It was amazing how much that part was pushed by some!
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The scantron ballot didn’t used to be the only ballot in Michigan, but has been for a few election cycles now. A friend of mine in Plymouth had to vote on a touch screen a couple cycles (and she hated it because it didn’t seem auditable or very secure).
A scantron is all I’ve ever received as a ballot while living in Michigan. It is a pretty robust system with a very auditable paper trail and multiple checks on integrity.
@Brainspore - the machines in use in Michigan do tally as the ballots are fed in. Workers are not to access that information until the polls close, and then only to extract it for transmittal to the Clerk’s office.
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Yeah I meant the poll workers aren’t supposed to have any idea of the vote count until it’s over.
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race.
it’s a dog whistle that if you see people who you “don’t recognize” or “look suspicious” then you need to threaten them to leave
“In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally"
that’s from when he lost the popular vote against clinton
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Gotcha, thanks for clarifying!
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Are voters and poll workers allowed to carry firearms in to the polling station?! 
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Not if the polling location is a public school, and a lot of our (Michigan) polling locations are public schools.
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Blimey, America is a very strange country when viewed from the outside. All the best 
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It’s only illegal if Nessel files charges
Otherwise it’s just, uh, discouraged
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That’s what we use in Minnesota. (I think it’s state wide? I’ve always voted in the same Minneapolis district.) I think it’s the perfect balance of safe, clear, fast results, reliable, auditable, clear, etc. If I were in charge that’s what we would use nation wide.
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Judge of elections here! On election day, a “Judge of Elections” (I am one) is an elected position that is in charge of assigning poll workers and making sure all the rules are followed.
For other BoingBoing readers that would like to be a poll worker, as you were (thank you!): Polls are conducted at the county level. So if you Google “[your county] Board of Elections” or “[your county] Voter Services”, you’ll be able to find your local “Become a Poll worker” page.
Poll workers’ sacred mandate is to keep voting boring. The minority inspector’s job is to make sure the Judge of Elections doesn’t do anything hinky. The majority inspector’s job is to keep an eye on the minority inspector. Absolutely everything that gets signed, gets signed by multiple people keeping an eye on each other. And then there’s poll watchers watching THEM. There’s rules for everything. It’s all very well thought out, and if you get a full slate of smart, engaged people running the poll, then it’s a very VERY secure process!
PS. Here in Chester County, Pennsylvania, the Electoral Systems and Services Model DS200 Optical Ballot Scanner and Tabulator has a four-hour battery backup. And it has a sealed steel vault in its cabinet for those times when the battery backup may not be suffcient. Not only is that advice about unplugging the machine incredibly illegal and immoral, it would also be ineffective.
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I’m sure that they don’t care about voting in a lot of Michigan, just some urban districts.
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