Good News/Bad News

Jessica Clark

Good news: Early exit polls have Kerry pulling ahead in Florida, Michigan and Ohio Bad news: Here???s a report from the Advancement Project--which is participating in the Election Protection Coalition--on voter complaints that their attorneys have received as of 2:00 p.m. EST: Wisconsin: An emergency court order has been filed in Madison state court to keep the polls open until 9:30 PM because ballots were not available in Milwaukee until 10:30AM Phoenix: Polling places are telling voters that if they cast a provisional ballot in the wrong polling place it will count. THIS IS NOT TRUE! A lawyer is being dispatched out to the precinct. Bomb threat at Madison Park Elementary School. Kids have been evacuated and polling place moved. Harrisburg, PA: Polling Places Opened Late- Ward 1 Precinct 3 Registration Problems (voters not on the rolls) Machine Problems ( has 2 machines, both machines are down) Ward 10 Precinct 10 Apparently, across the state there is an overuse of provisional ballots.?? One precinct in Harrisburg ran out of provisional ballots.?? This suggest that poll workers are not calling election offices to find out if people are on the rolls and/or purging problems.?? Our attorney has talked to voters who have said they weren't on the rolls, but they voted two years ago.?? St. Louis: Lack of provisional ballots in polling places People being told they voted absentee when they didn't 2 polling places shut down in St. Louis City Some polling places making voters stand in two lines, one for Democrat and one for Republican For more details on these reports, contact Sabrina Williams at 202.728.9557

Jessica Clark is a writer, editor and researcher, with more than 15 years of experience spanning commercial, educational, independent and public media production. Currently she is the Research Director for American University’s Center for Social Media. She also writes a monthly column for PBS’ MediaShift on new directions in public media. She is the author, with Tracy Van Slyke, of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (2010, New Press).
The text is from the poem “QUADRENNIAL” by Golden, reprinted with permission. It was first published in the Poetry Project. Inside front cover photo by Golden.
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