What Democratic Primary?

The Orlando Sentinel reports on how things are going down in Florida, our nation’s capital for electoral mayhem (and that’s a pic of the patron saint of Florida elections, former Secretary of State Katherine Harris, to the left there):

Sheneka McDonald spent 10 minutes trying to convince poll workers … that she should have a Democratic ballot. She questioned poll workers when she was handed a Republican ballot but was told, “this is the only ballot we have.”

“I said, ‘How can this be the only ballot,'” McDonald recalled. “That’s when the guy chimed in from the back and said the Democratic primary was in March.”

The poll captain eventually apologized to McDonald and told her they had forgotten to unpack all the ballots. “It was a little unnerving this morning,” she said. “I don’t see how you forget to unpack ballots. This is what gives Florida its reputation.”

Note to Florida election workers: Although Florida has been stripped of its delegates, there is most certainly a Democratic primary today.

And TPM Reader KH writes in to tell the story of one man’s triumph against incredible odds:

I voted in Lee County, Florida this morning – being in Southwest Florida, its a Republican stronghold in the state.

The poll worker who opened the door for me advised “Just show your driver’s license to the desk and you can vote.” Only problem is that this is patently untrue, Florida providing for casting of provisional ballots and all. When I told the nice lady at the registration desk that I had lost my wallet and was going to cast a provisional ballot, she gave me the perplexed look of the uninformed. Fortunately, there was a gentleman at the “special services” desk who knew what to do and he got me on my way to voting. Then he told me that I had to “contact the supervisor of elections and provide proof of my right to vote or they will not count my ballot.” Sigh. This also is not true in Florida – no proof is required if the only basis for casting the provisional was the lack of proper identification. The supervisor is suppose to run the driver’s license number provided (which I gave them) against the state database and when they match the vote is counted.

I am fortunate enough to be both interested in the political process and fairly well educated. I can, however, imagine the very real possibility that such statements will lead a less informed voter to turn away thinking that her or she is not able to vote. There is, of course, nothing my experience to suggest anything but ignorance was the root cause of the misinformed statements of these poll workers. But when the general comes around next fall and we have these well-meaning yahoos speaking out of their asses like this it can become a real problem. Whether by design or by indifference, the result will be the same.