I first want to say-it'd great to see so many posts on the "goings-on" at all the precincts. I secondly want to thank the people who had signed up to be new election judges this year. I had several new judges that had recently attended training by the Mpls Elections folks and they did a great job. My polling place; Providence Place (formally known as Nile Health Care Center) has been gracious to allow us to have elections there for many years. Was it the right venue for the turnout yesterday-no!. I had voters in line at 6:30-all the way down 23rd Avenue. We had the majority of our voters done almost before noon. 90% of the voters were patient, and as I walked the line and thanked people for their patience, and for being there I received mostly positive feedback. We are very limited in rooms to choose from at Providence Place; in previous years we had a tiny conference room. Which was ridiculous. This year I was able to persuade the administrators at Providence Place to let us use a Dining Room. But that did not solve the problem of the halls being packed with people, and disrupting the daily routines of some of the residents. I had a few very upset people who had been in line that complained about some people who had been same day registering, that got to vote before them. There had to be a system of crowd management, and that was done in my opinion well; with different lines that came from pre-registered voters, and new registered voters that merged into the ballot line. My answer to some of those that complained; Volunteer to be an election Judge next election. Which brings me to my next point, that I have to express. The majority of my election judges are over 75 years old. While I do not want to seem unappreciative, a 16+ hour day is too long for a senior person to work at a polling place. As they have their choice of a half day, even so many of them are rightfully devoted to their civic duty of being an election judge; and this does deserve commendation. But; its time now for a gentle evolution of others to take their places. The Minneapolis Election Officials do an A+ job, they provide many very precise trainings. They even provide extra trainings, people are paid for attending. The last Chair Judge training I went to; I noticed to elderly chair judges sleeping at the trainings. As being an election judge is a complex task involving many very specific details; and these details are imperative to our process of democracy(registration, explaining the ballots, and monitoring the ballot counter) I was almost unable to place these tasks in the hands of judges that were exhausted, and barely could hold their eyes open. As far as the most complex part of being an election judge is closing the polls and processing the Absentee ballots, which processing our absentee ballots is a very long process(we have 4 types); and absolutely most be done with precision; my elderly judges at this point were unable to assist. Thus the closing process took much longer than it should of. My point being; we need to provide our community with a flux of new election judges. Secondly; a very positive note. I had a student judge, a high school student, a young man; that was absolutely superb. What a great idea! Absolutely down to the last moment, he was so helpful, and willing to do anything to help us. I am not sure what program, or how this Student Judge program works; but I give it a full applause. I hope he participates in democracy for the rest of his life. On challengers; I had three lawyers the entire day, that were extremely pleasant, and were there until we were completely done. No problems at all. Gina Palandri Standish
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