Jenny Peek
Voters fill out their ballots at East High School. A judge ordered East High to stay open an extra hour, after voting was disrupted there early in the morning by a fire alarm.
When Joe Lalli decided to take the day off to volunteer as an election observer he braced for the worst.
Lalli worried about calls from Republican nominee Donald Trump and others that the process was rigged, that agitators might try to intimidate voters or that voters would be confused by the state’s new voter ID law.
He was surprised then, when everything got off to a smooth start.
“It’s not the answer I would have expected, but things have been very smooth,” says Lalli, a League of Women Voters of Wisconsin volunteer election observer. Lalli checked in at three polling places in Madison — Gates of Heaven on East Gorham Street, the Tenney Park Pavilion and Madison College on Commercial Avenue — to make sure officials followed the law and voters had someone to turn to for help, if needed.
Although the process in Madison went relatively smoothly, Lalli was disappointed to see some technical problems.
“The biggest problem I've seen first hand is a lack of tabulation machine maintenance,” says Lalli. “The tabulation machine at Tenney Park was completely broken for over 20 minutes, and it took multiple calls from the chief inspector before the city clerk said they'd send someone over.”
The clerk’s office eventually sent a spare tabulator to Tenney Park in time for the after-work rush.
According to Lalli, there were similar problems at Madison College earlier in the day. At that location, Lalli says, “It took the city four hours before someone was sent out.”
Broken machine or not, these ballots are still counted. They are placed in an “auxiliary bin” underneath the tabulator and counted once the machine is fixed. Madison’s clerk, Maribeth Witzel-Behl, could not be reached for comment on Tuesday evening.
Jenny Peek
Joe Lalli, League of Women Voters volunteer election observer, and Ginger Murray, attorney and volunteer election observer, at Madison College on Commercial Avenue.
Statewide, the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin reported few major problems with voter access. “Despite election fatigue, people all over Wisconsin took the time, and in many cases, a lot of trouble to vote and that is good,” Andrea Kaminski, the League’s executive director, wrote in an email sent shortly after 8 p.m. “The voting process was fairly smooth, as far as I know at this point. That is due in large part to the exceptional professionalism of our state and local election officials.”
But she noted the long bitter campaigns have taken their toll. “As I write this we don't know who will be our next president or U.S. senator, but one thing that is certain is that we have a difficult healing process ahead.”
Beyond technical difficulties, Lalli had to help a handful of voters who didn’t have the correct ID or proof of residency, but he noted that all but two of these voters came back with the proper documents to cast ballots.
“There were a lot of people coming in with alternative voting documents, an expired student ID or an out of state driver’s license, but everyone managed to have [the laws] properly explained to them, they went home, got their ID or passport and came back,” Lalli says. “I’m not in favor of the law, I think it’s unnecessary, but so far it hasn’t been as much of an issue. People seem to be informed and motivated enough to vote that they’re able to get their hands on something.”
Voting at East High School was met with an early interruption when the fire alarm went off around 8:20 a.m., lasting for nearly 10 minutes.
According to Roger Pierson, the chief election inspector at East, the false alarm was an accident.
“It’s hearsay, but the principal told me that a soccer ball hit the clear box covering the fire alarm and knocked it off and a well-meaning student picked it up and tried to put it back on, setting off the alarm,” says Pierson.
While the building was evacuated, voters were able to finish their ballots, and Pierson was permitted to stay in the building with security to ensure the tabulators were not tampered with.
“We recovered pretty quickly, but you never know who could have come up to the door when they weren’t letting anyone in, there’s always that possibility,” says Pierson.
To ensure voters got a chance to cast their ballot, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Rhonda Lanford ordered that East’s polling place stay open until 9 p.m. Although Lanford’s order quickly circulated on social media, the poll workers at East High were slow to get the news. An Isthmus reporter showed them a press release from the mayor’s office about the extension.
In Madison, there were more poll workers and more election observers than in other years; other groups providing election observers included the state Democratic and Republican parties and the Wisconsin Department of Justice. With the increased fire power, most problems at the polls were quickly dealt with.
Lalli was happy to help. “It all boils down to I need to make sure that every person who walks through the door, walks out having voted,” says Lalli. “And if they don’t, I need to find out what happened and try to make it right.”