Election Day in California

Election Day is now over in California, and fortunately it does not seem there have been any major meltdowns. But there were, as always, lots of bumps and irregularities. Lots of voters who didn't get their vote-by-mail ballots wanting to vote, lots of voters who didn't reregister at a new address who wanted to vote - that sort of thing.

One thing is clear - the rules are complicated and how they are implemented varies from county to county and even from one polling place to another. There are so many confusing procedures that are supposed to be followed, and it's difficult for voters to know exactly what their rights are.

I heard a story of voters in one polling place being told they had to show ID to vote. I heard another from a voter who said she was forced to vote a provisional ballot even though she had her spoiled vote-by-mail ballot with her and had surrendered it to pollworkers. I heard many complaints from voters today who said they thought they had registered through the DMV and only now discovered they weren't actually on the rolls.

For more examples of the variety of problems California voters experienced, take a look at the collection of reports filed by the Election Protection Coalition through the 866-OUR-VOTE hotline.

Hats off to all the pollworkers who have worked hard all day, to the voters who have cast their ballots, and the election officials who now must turn to the thankless task of counting all those ballots - I wish you accurate vote counts and wide margins.