Trying to vote at Rieber Hall was a nightmare

‘Next time I’m voting by mail’

UCLA has been having problems with efficiency at getting votes through at the Rieber Hall polling location. Voter registration for student residents  living at Rieber Hall, Sproul Cove, Courtside, Gardenia, Holly, and Saxon Suites has been complicated, to say the least.

Many of the students who registered before election day were not listed in the official voter roster, and the disorder has caused these students to wait multiple hours to cast their votes. I was one of these students and I went to the polling station twice trying to cast my votes. I noticed a lot of students leaving, probably with hopes of the line shortening later, but I tried that earlier in the day and knew that I had to bear the three hour wait in order to complete my civic duty to vote for America’s future.

Chris Perez, English, 20

“I waited in line for an hour to vote in the morning, then I was sent away because I was notified that I registered to vote by mail. When I checked my mail, I learned I wasn’t sent a ballot because I registered to vote by mail near the end and the letter said to go vote at the Rieber Hall poll location. So I had to go wait in line again to vote since I had no mail ballot. Waiting in line again took three hours. The poll worker nearly sent me away again until I was explicitly clear and showed him official letter that I didn’t receive a mail ballot. It was a long process of waiting that made me wonder how it is was so inefficient for such an important part of US government.”

Carmen Gratz, 20, Psychology

“I waited in line since five thirty we finally got to the voting room and the poll worker asked us for our names to look us up in the registered voting book. It was a really thick book, and the poll worker kept flipping through it and couldn’t find my name. I thought that was really odd since I registered at the beginning of the year AND made sure to change my voting address when I moved into the Gardenia Residence hall. The poll worker then looked for my name in another book which was blue, but my name wasn’t in that one either. Thus I was given a pink provisional ballot to fill out instead. It really made me mad because this is my first election and I wanted to vote properly. I don’t know why my name wasn’t listed in the Official Roster of Voters, but it wasn’t any fault of mine. I just hope my vote will get counted.… Next year I’m voting by mail.”

Oluwatomi Balogun, 20, Communication Studies

“It was a three hour wait. My legs were hurting and my back was aching, but I chose to push through and endure. I know that California is a guaranteed blue state, but this is my first presidential election so it was important for me to get my vote in. Was it worth it? Maybe not, but I’m still happy that I did it. If nothing else I learned a valuable lesson – mail in ballots all the way.” 

Courtney Davis, 19, Math/Econ

“I made the mistake of using our 330 De Neve mailing address when I registered, instead of my building’s address, so when I arrived at Rieber (which is where everyone who put that down was supposed to go), the line went all the way from the lounge, snaked around the Rieber hall lobby three times, and extended almost to the rendezvous dining hall. I waited for maybe 10 minutes and then asked one of the people instructing us if there was anywhere I could vote provisionally. He told me to go to De Neve because there was a provisional line there. I went straight there and waited in line for not even ten minutes.”

Sarina Wang, Communication Studies, 20

“After waiting in line for a long time, I questioned whether or not it was worth waiting two more hours to simply fill out a ballot. In the end, I decided to stay because it was my civic duty to vote; but, the process in itself could have been more efficient. During the wait, i had seen a couple people leave the line because they had other matters to attend to- which resulted in them not voting”.

Some students fear that the provisional ballot problem is reminiscent of what happened in the primary election when some provisional votes went uncounted.

This is especially true when the provisional voter receipt says “If you would like to know if your ballot was counted, please call. . .” This goes to say lesson learned. Next time vote by mail. Well, if there is a next time.

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