Letters to the Editor: Poll workers say voters who didn’t do their homework complicated election day

To the editor: As a poll worker, I can say your reports on long lines and glitches were spot on. My site experienced similar issues, but we were not overwhelmed and all voters were finished by 8:30 p.m.

We did take extra time explaining how to cast ballots. We gathered that most voters had not read the instructions mailed to them. A video should have been on replay at each site explaining the process.

We had problems with names having spaces or hyphens or no spaces, as some voters did not know how they had registered. Voters are unaware that many residents share their name. Providing a sample ballot or a driver‘s license avoided these problems.

The registrar needs to adjust the number of workers and machines at impacted sites or add another site nearby to handle the load.

And, finally, no poll worker at my site had a second meal or even a 15-minute break during the final six or seven hours of voting.

Suzanne Brugman, La Habra

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To the editor: I’ve been volunteering as a poll worker for 10 years.

Apparently, much of the public was not aware of early voting, although the material mailed to them advertised it. I worked four days, and the first three were very quiet. Most people waited until the last day to vote.

I was also was quite flabbergasted to read that at one site, the clerk didn’t inform a voter to cast his ballot back into the machine; we were trained to remind each voter not to walk away with their ballot.

My husband voted at my center and found the new system to be user friendly. Having competent clerks helps the process run smoothly, as well as voters doing their homework and reading the materials beforehand.

Karin Gerber, Woodland Hills