FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 15, 2018 • THE QUEENS COURIER 35
letters & comments
PLIGHT OF THE
POLL WORKER
As a poll worker for two straight years,
I have a good gauge on what works and
doesn’t work in a typical polling site in New
York City.
Having worked in two diff erent locations,
in the past two years, under three
diff erent coordinators (the boss at a polling
site), I have seen the style of leadership
each coordinator has and what needs to
be done to service the Voter, our customer
so to speak.
One thing is certain: this Election Day
had a lot of problems associated with it. For
me, it wasn’t just the weather or the failure
of the machinery to work or the long lines
of voters waiting to slip their ballots into
the scanners. It was also a lack of training
and contingency plans on the part of the
coordinator I worked under.
A Polling Site should be thought of like
a retail store — that is, to welcome the customer
in (the voter), give him or her the
service they deserve, process them quickly
and send them on their way happy for
the experience.
Th at didn’t happen this Election Day,
for numerous reasons. For one, the scanner
machines couldn’t handle the volume
of ballots sent into them.
As poll workers, we are given a manual to
anticipate any problems we are faced with,
but this contingency, of Scanner failure on
a grand scale, is only partially referred to in
the manual, under “emergency ballots.” It
only applies if all scanners are not working.
I was faced with a line of some 120 voters
waiting to slide their marked ballots into
one single scanner machine. We gave them
the welcome, handed them the ballot, but
didn’t have the machinery capable of dealing
with the volume: especially in the late
aft ernoon and evening.
It is said that you should learn from
your mistakes. In that vain, I have a recommendation:
to have contingency plans
if a majority of the scanners break down,
such as moving to “emergency ballots,” by
having the voter place the ballot into a slot
under the scanner. A bipartisan team can
then scan it later when the scanner is fi xed.
My coordinator did not do that.
SM Sobelsohn, Kew Gardens
VOTE OUT THE ‘BROKEN
OLD ENTERPRISE’
I’ve frequently complained to the
Courier about the closure of my nearby
poll site at P.S. 164 in Kew Gardens
Hills. But now I’m glad that I voted by
absentee ballot and avoided a horror
show. Th e Daily News reported what
a columnist called a “Dumpster-fi re
democratic process” that included broken
scanning machines, long lines and
confusing ballots at many NYC polling
sites.
Th e Board of Elections (BOE) really
stands for “Broken Old Enterprise,”
which must be scrapped and totally
replaced. Here are three suggestions:
1. Staff the BOE with qualifi ed professionals,
not political hacks chosen by
borough presidents & approved by the
City Council. Incompetence starts at the
top with BOE boss Michael Ryan, who
said his troops weren’t prepared for a
large voter turnout. Why not? On what
planet does he work?
2. Th row out the electronic scanning
devices, which are a digital disaster,
and bring back the mechanical voting
machines that I fi rst used when I
pulled the lever for JFK in 1960. Th ey
don’t break down, can’t be hacked and
provide total voter secrecy and privacy.
3. Simplify the election process via
early voting, online registration and less
confusing ballots. Put referendum proposals,
like the one setting term limits
for community board members, on
a separate ballot, not on the other side
of the ballot used for selecting candidates,
as was done on Nov. 6. Th is created
confusion and wasted time.
Richard Reif, Kew Gardens Hills
TIME TO COME
TOGETHER AND ACT
Th e votes are in and the results are
unclear. We know that the Democrats
will control the House of Representatives
and the Republicans will control the
U.S.Senate. Th e prospect of two years of
a divided Congress can be a great danger
or a great opportunity.
One possibility is that Congress will
continue its present path. Members from
both parties, some out of principle, others
out of fear of antagonizing the base,
will continue to cling to hardened ideological
positions and refuse to compromise.
Th e other possibility is that wiser heads
from both parties will prevail. Th ey will
realize that in a divided Congress the
only way to get things done is for both
parties to work together to develop bipartisan
solutions to our many challenges.
By toning down the rhetoric and developing
solutions, Congress can help to
heal the partisan bitterness that is threatening
to tear our country apart.
Th ose who see the need to tone down
the decibel level of political rhetoric and
for members of Congress to work together
as partners have a base on which to
build. A number of organizations have
been founded to promote bipartisanship
and co-operation.
One of the most prominent is No
Labels (of which I am a member of the
New York State Leadership Council). We
are not calling on everyone to agree. We
are calling for debate to take place in a
spirit of mutual respect, in which people
can hear and learn from each other’s
arguments.
We are not asking our representatives
to compromise on principle. We are asking
then to rise above their diff erences,
realize that their opponents have legitimate
needs that need to be addressed and
work together to achieve principled compromise
in which no one gets everything
they want but everyone gets most of what
they need.
Th e decisions our Representatives will
make in the next few weeks may well
determine how eff ective Congress will be
in addressing our concerns over the next
two years and beyond.
While changing the way Congress
operates and making it more eff ective
would certainly help to improve the climate,
real change will only come from
the bottom up.
Th ere are several ways in which people
can become involved. Th ey can go
to nolabels.com to learn more about the
organization and become members, or
they can contact me directly at mjbnolabels@
aol.com.
It is not enough to complain about the
toxic political climate. It is up to us to
change it.
Manny Behar, Forest Hills
FUZZY MATH AT THE
TAKEOUT COUNTER
On many occasions, I’ve purchased
some food items and the tax I’m paying is
rounded up to the next nickel or dime in
the store’s favor. I don’t make a big deal
over a few pennies but I fi nd it an annoying
practice.
Recently I purchased a pint of soup
(I won’t mention the name or type of
restaurant). For a $2.25 cent price on the
menu, I was told the cost was $2.50, not
the $2.45 it should have been. Our city’s
sales tax still is under 10 percent, and I
asked if the tax was correct, and was told
the sales tax on $2.25 was 25 cents. Th at’s
not true.
I went back to this same Queens restaurant
a few days later and this time ordered
two pints of the same $2.25 menu price of
soup. I paid $5 this time and asked why so
much. Th e counter person said $2.50 and
$2.50 equals $5. I asked how much tax
was on $4.50, the $2.25 pint times 2. Th e
tax is 40 cents. Without saying a word, the
guy handed me back 10 cents aft er realizing
I knew I was being overcharged.
Yeah, it’s only a nickel here or a dime
there, but it belongs to me. In my opinion,
this illegal practice should result in a
fi ne to these stores who knowingly do it
to their customers on a continuous basis.
Why can’t they do the right thing and
charge me the right tax?
Mark Lane, Douglaston
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