Interview with Deaf poll worker
THE DAILY MOTH:
I’ll show an interview with a poll worker from Kansas.
DAVID WESTERMAN:
My name is David Westerman from Olathe, Kansas. There is a deaf school here.
[Images]
12 years ago I retired from my job. I was curious and got involved with the Johnson County Election Office. I was asked to be an assistant supervising judge.
THE DAILY MOTH:
David explained that his primary responsibilities are to make sure the polling location is ADA accessible and to help guide voters to their polls. I asked him what his thoughts were on the 2020 election and the controversy with President Donald Trump making allegations that poll workers changed votes in an act of fraud. I asked David what he thought about that.
WESTERMAN:
That’s a good question. In my workplace, there are 22 people. I don’t know which party member they are. I don’t know. Whether they are Democratic or Republican, I don’t know. We work together. Before we start working, we have to take an oath to swear to be honest and do things the right way. So I feel he is insulting us! Insulting us by saying we are dishonest and cheating. We do watch each other and if we notice mistakes, we will help each other out. That’s all.
THE DAILY MOTH:
I asked him what would happen if a poll worker intentionally changed votes.
WESTERMAN:
I’d get jail time for cheating and because I violated my oath to be honest. So it’s jail time. And really, I’m not very adept with technology. I don’t see how we can change or fix the machines. They are locked. You put a paper inside, put in your votes, take it out, and bring it to the scanner machine for your votes to be counted. I can’t read it. Unless there is a problem and I’m called, then I will ask if I can look at it. This is for paper ballots. There are two different kinds of ballots that people ask for — a machine/printed ballot or a paper ballot. Some people mark X’s while they should be filling out black dots. So I will tell them they are wrong and explain. They’ll say “oh” and I’ll bring another paper so they can redo it the right way. The second instance is when people fill out ballots without filling out the holes neatly. It’s like they’re a little boy with the mess. The ballot is unreadable so we deal with that. There was one young guy who voted for the first time and he thought he could mark down ballots and also write down the names, but the machine won’t recognize it. I told him to not write down the names unless it was for a different party or for a different candidate. He said “oh” and then redid his ballot in the right way so the machine could read it. So, the machine knows what is right and what is wrong, not me.
[Sponsored Video from Convo: https://www.convorelay.com/]
THE DAILY MOTH:
I asked him about mail-in ballots and what the process was compared with in-person votes.
WESTERMAN:
Okay, I worked two weeks in advance in the elections office to deal with people and logistics. During my break times, I saw people working on mail-in ballots. They would bring in a batch of mail-in ballots and count the envelopes. Then another group would open them up and look at the signatures. If they had a signature, they would be moved up, but if not, they would be put aside. There was another group who pulled out the papers and stacked them up to wait until November 3 in the morning before they could start counting them. That’s Kansas law. I know it’s different in Pennsylvania. So with that I know what is going on.
THE DAILY MOTH:
Thank you David for explaining your insights, coming from a poll worker.