Can someone tell me what is wrong with the people who work at the Metro Government Archives building in Green Hills? Site of the old Green Hills Library up by the mall?
Apparently people are showing up there for early voting, thinking they are at the Green Hills Library. The archives building hasn’t been the Green Hills Library in about 10 years but I guess some folks are slow on the uptake. Furthermore, the real Green Hills Library is not an early voting location this election. I think it was budget cuts or traffic issues or some nonsense, I don’t know.
Anyway, yesterday I stopped by the archives and saw a sign on the door reading “Early Voting At Green Hills Library.” I informed the staff that the library was not an Early Voting Location and was asked, “well, where is it?” I replied that early voting is all over the city, there’s like eight locations. The staffer rolled her eyes. I told her she had to take that sign down because it was incorrect information.
I mean, I’m just a person here, going about her business. It’s not like I work there or anything.
And then she said, I shit you not: “Well, at least they won’t come in here and ask me where it is! Won’t they know at the library?”
Damn. This is the Metro Government Archives staff not wanting to give people information?
Hey, here’s a thought: you’ve got computers in that office. Why not go over to the Davidson County Election Commission website, print out their list of early voting locations, and stick that on the door?
Now how hard was that?
Geeez. It’s hard enough for people to vote as it is, we don’t need to send people on a wild goose chase around the city looking for a place to cast their ballot.
Southern Beale:
URdewinitrong!
Do not talk to some lowly staffer, drop a dime to the local investigative journalists!!
I got a call from somebody at my local paper last week who wanted to know if I had taken a photograph which they ran*, as a person had been photoshopped out of the image that they received from a local business. In the event, it was not mine, but I realized after a brief conversation that they were looking for a manufactroversey to pad out the Daily Cageliner.
* They’re doing it wrong, too. The time to ask about who recorded and OWNS an image is B4 you use it without attribution.
Are you SURE it was not intentional….and just no an “accident.” Sounds to me like it was some RW shennigans to me. ” Untill proven otherwise….”
Eyeroll=”You really expect me to give a shit. I just vote in accordance with the wishes of the oligarchy overlords ON ELECTION DAY. Early voting is just some sort of libtard scam for illegals.”
I know, right? How can you suppress the vote if you are required to post accurate, actionable information where the public can view it?
I think the archives employee’s behavior is part of a common misunderstanding many people have about their jobs. Each job is a cog in a large machine, and each job is not only to be a cog, but to make the machine run well. Sometimes that means to keep ones head down and be a great cog, but other times it may mean stepping in and bridging the gap where another cog is missing a tooth. (Is this metaphor labored enough by now?) I believe Metro Archives positions are civil service; I think she forgot about the “service” part.
Yeah I’ve run into this same attitude in the private sector, too. And I really don’t think it was a nefarious “suppress the vote” plot. Just some employee who didn’t think it was their job and couldn’t be bothered.
I mean, cripes. If you’re going to go to the trouble of typing up a note, printing it out, and taping it to the door, wouldn’t it make sense to just do it right?
When I handed my Official Tennesee Voter Registration card to the clerk, she looked at like it was an “antique”. Then made a BIG DEAL of comparing it to my DL.
SB,
The Green Hills Library is not an early voting site because the Election Commission wanted to minimize the cost of what will be a low turnout primary. The locations, I gather, were chosen, in part, to take into account competitive primaries for Davidson County races. Neither party has a contested race for Senate and Republican votes for the Congressional seat will be driven by down-ticket state house and senate races. That means the big turnout will be in select areas where these races are being contested.
For example, the choice of Belle Meade over Green Hills creates an early voting site that is accessible to Bellevue, Belle Meade and Green Hills. A site in Bellevue would benefit turnout in the competitive House District 50 primary but at the cost of convenience to Belle Meade and Green Hills voters. And voters in Green Hills presumably have less trouble going to other locations than voters in other locations have getting into Green Hills.
The Election Commission deserves credit for creating an early voting system that is realistic, fair and cost-effective for a low turnout election. In the fall, no doubt there will be several additional early voting sites.