Be On the Lookout for Dirty Tricks

Report by Rev. Dee Graham, Voter, Precinct 270:

About 9:30 a.m., Signa Quandt and I went to Precinct 270 to vote.
Signa, who was confined to a manual wheel chair and uses a service dog, was pushed by me.
We went into the precinct, which had no lines.
I wheeled Signa up to her alphabetical sign-in, and then stood next to her at her own sign-in book.
Waiting for the worker to find her name in the book, the precinct captain, Janice, came over, stood behind the worker, motioned and asked me to remove her button that read: “NOVoteNoOn2.com. Even though she knew she could have refused, because it is legal to wear such a pin when one is voting, Dee quietly took off the button and put it in her pocket without argument.

When both had their second step paperwork, Dee pushed Signa’s wheelchair until an appropriate setup was made available at a table where she could reach a voting surface. Then Dee went to one of the usual voting booths, the second from the last one.

At that booth, set up for the unsuspecting next voter to see, was a paid political advertisement from Florida4Marriage.org and a list of the amendments with YES clearly checked for number 2. Clearly, this propaganda had been left in the booth in plain sight of the next unsuspecting voter.

Noting the contradiction at Precinct 270, that while I had been told to remove my NO-on-2 button, I would find Yes-on-2 instructions in the voting booth, I asked to speak to the precinct captain and was directed to Janice.

I informed Janice of the situation and reminded her that the law would allow me to wear my button but that I removed it voluntarily at her request. I showed her the propaganda I had removed from the voting booth. She asked me if I would like to file a complaint with the supervisor of elections and I said yes. She asked me if I would like her to dispose of the propaganda and I declined. She gave me a simple voter response card.

At this point I had put my NO-on-2 pin back on, and Signa was ready to be pushed in her chair from her voting location at the table to the exit line. However, I was stopped at the door by another poll worker and told I would have to take off my pin before I could go get her to push her to the place where she could deposit her vote and to leave.
During the time we were having this conversation and I was explaining what had happened and that I had the legal right to continue to wear the pin, Signa managed to maneuver herself to the place where she could deposit her ballot and I then pushed her out the door.

Rev. Dee Graham
Tuesday, November 04, 2008