Tech problems stymie Redondo voters
Lines of voters stretch into the parking lot at the Redondo Beach North Branch Library. Photo
At some polling locations across Redondo, voting was a trial of endurance on Super Tuesday, California’s primary election day.
Voters at the Redondo Beach North Branch Library were in a line that stretched well outside of the building’s doors and into the jam-packed parking lot, where voters would be forced to step back to allow cars into parking spaces.
“[Monday], all day, we had 500 voters,” said poll worker Priscilla Atwell. “We had 500 people between 11 and 1 today.”
Atwell was directing traffic and managing the lines throughout the day as poll workers tried to keep voters out of the sun and bring relief to voters who were physically unable to stand in line while waiting to cast their ballot.
The library’s community room was a hugely popular voting site throughout the day, but the room’s size constrained its utility — only 10 of LA County’s voting machines, rolled out for the first time with this election, could run in the room. The new system introduced electronic voting machines and computerized check-in systems that accessed the complete voter roll database, allowing voters registered in LA County to vote at any polling place within the county.
Nearby Madison Elementary School, less than a mile away, had 24 voting machines (21 of which were fully functional) set up in its auditorium. Around 2:30, while the North Branch Library’s lines had more than 80 people queued up, Madison rarely had more than five.
“We’ve gone out several times…voters have been notified that there are other polling locations nearby,” said North Branch Library poll worker Matthew Nugent, “but voters here chose to remain in place.”
Small technical issues caused confusion and frustration throughout the day. Lines grew as the afternoon turned to evening, and check-in points became choke points, slowing down the flow of voter traffic. Though poll workers across the city cited glitches and connectivity issues throughout the day, many said that the process was largely smooth.
Except for the polling place at Redondo Beach’s Alta Vista Park.
An “I voted” sticker at the Beach Cities Health District’s polling place. Photo
The final ballot at Alta Vista was cast at 9:12 p.m., more than 14 hours after the polls opened, and little more than an hour after the polls were scheduled to close, and voting centers cut off lines to enter their facilities.
Alta Vista’s location was dealt a worse hand than some polling places — the location was tucked into the racquetball courts in a tight corner of the park. Due to the size of the room, only five machines could be arranged into the space, with two poll workers running check-in.
Around 7:30 p.m., the line of voters stretched well outside the entrance to the building, at least 80 feet out the door, with wait times edging beyond 40 minutes. One voter in line darkly joked that they were making great progress — it only took them 10 minutes to move from one three-foot concrete slab to the next. Some potential voters were observed leaving without casting ballots.
The process was jamming. Of the five voting machines provided, only three worked. Worse, the check-in system was glitching — one check-in station tablet was refusing to sync with the County’s voter roll database.
When asked what she thought the County could have done better, poll worker Aja Evans wondered why the County’s deployment teams had issues repairing and swapping out faulty equipment.
When the clock struck 8 p.m., the line of remaining voters — more than 50 people — was brought in from the cold. But as they lined up, the second check-in station tablet began to glitch as well; all of the voters at Alta Vista Park were given provisional ballots, which are issued to voters whose registration cannot be immediately validated.
“It’s a mess,” said Kevin Metzger, who was there with his son and wife, and said that his son had to be on a train to Lancaster at 6 a.m. the next morning. “It seems to suggest that some people or groups won’t be counted — it feels discouraging.”
When asked if she knew how many voters had to vote using provisional ballots, Evans shook her head. “No way. I couldn’t begin to guesstimate how many there were,” she said.
As Metzger and his family walked off, they laughed. “I’ve shut down bars before, but never polling places.”
On Wednesday afternoon, LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn issued a statement calling for voting center problems to be investigated and problems addressed in time for the November General Election.
“The hours-long wait times that many voters experienced on election night are unacceptable,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn. “Some hiccups are to be expected with a new system – but there were widespread reports of problems. We need a full investigation of the challenges that voters faced, and these issues need to be fixed before this November.”