Adventures in Ohio – Election 2008
What can I say about this historic event that hasn't already been said, blogged, or reported? I suppose the best thing I can do is to write down what I remember of the five days I spent in Ohio, and my small part in the greatest election operation in the history of our country.

Canvassing in Lima: Nov. 1 – 3
My colleague, Jonathan, and I arrived in Ohio on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2008, to help the Obama campaign's grassroots effort. The campaign deployed us to Lima, Ohio. Lima is a economically depressed town where plants have closed and many jobs have left the town. Politically, the county leans Republican. Jonathan and I canvassed door-to-door on Saturday afternoon and all of Sunday. We knocked on approximately 200 doors. The people were warm and inviting (well, except for the racists who said, "I ain't votin' for that boy!") and for the most part, people were excited about voting. Sadly, on Election Night, we discovered that we lost the county to the Republicans by about 10,000 votes, but we heard that more Democrats voted in the county than ever before. Regardless of the outcome in Lima, Jonathan and I both feel like we did our best, and we were both happy to be part of whatever progress we made in Lima.

On Monday morning, we hung literature and voting information on approximately another 100 doors in Lima. The campaign targeted likely Obama supporters who we were reminding about voting on Tuesday with an informational door hanger. The flyers were another testament to the extensive nature of the Obama campaign. The information that we posted on Monday morning was updated and much more specific about when and where to vote than the literature we distributed on Saturday and Sunday.

Training in Dayton: Nov. 3
After the door-hanging task, we were deployed back to Dayton, Ohio, where we received training as out-of-state attorney poll observers. The training involved multiple aspects of protecting voters' rights. Ohio has been known for all sorts of voting irregularities, even outright fraud. The room for training was cramped and poorly ventilated for the 150+ attorneys who came from all parts of the country. There was a large contingent from San Francisco, many from New York, Chicago, D.C., one from Alaska, and a couple of nerds from Texas. The meeting took too long and the lawyers asked a lot of questions (surprise!). Sadly, they were the same question – just asked in lots of nuanced ways (surprise!).

Election Day in Dayton: Nov. 4, Morning
On Election Day, we had to wake up at 4:30 a.m. and leave for our polling location by 5:15 a.m. It was dark and cold, but I didn't feel tired at all, even though I only had about four hours of sleep. After all, I had been waiting for this day for a very long time. Our assigned polling location was Rosa Parks Elementary School, in a heavily African-American part of Dayton. We were the first to arrive. Shortly afterward, around 6 a.m., people started to line up to vote, and the election judges set up the voting machines. And then it really hit the fan ...

First, all of the voting machines immediately failed because the poll workers jammed the memory cards into the machines backwards. Not only that, but they jammed them in so hard that they could not pull them back out. By this point, the voting line was already starting to grow. Then an unidentified guy in a white jacket with "Voters' Rights Team" written on the back showed up and started handling the machines. He had no badge or designation. I immediately called in these incidents to the Obama "boiler room," where attorneys were documenting incident reports should the need for election litigation arise, (as it did in 2000).

The voters' rights guy was told to not touch the machines. He then came out of the voting area and told us that he was a Democrat and that he had worked on the machines in the past and he was there to help get them started. We found this to be a fairly thin and fishy explanation and we asked him to not touch the machines simply out of a need to avoid impropriety, even if he was trying to help our side. He obliged and left the polling location. An authorized technician with a badge soon arrived to fix the machines. I had a word with him about the random voters' rights guy, and the technician said he knew him and reassured us that he was not working for the Republicans or doing any tampering. I asked the technician to tell him to please not touch any machines either at our poll or any other because if he was not authorized, then all the votes could be challenged. The technician said he would pass along the information. Crisis averted … and another starts ….

In Ohio, a voter may choose to cast a paper ballot instead of using a Diebold machine. The paper ballots have bubbles where you fill in your vote, and then they are scanned. However (and this gets complicated, so I'll try to keep it simple), if you do not vote in the precinct designated for where you live, or if you have moved after registering to vote, or if you're not in the voter ledger of registered voters for a precinct, then you can only cast a provisional ballot. Casting a provisional ballot requires you to prove your registration within 10 days of the election at the Board of Elections office in the county where you voted. As a result of these extra steps, provisional ballots usually get discarded from the vote count. Our job was to make every effort to have voters avoid casting provisional ballots.

Unfortunately, the undertrained election judges did not know the difference between a paper ballot and a provisional ballot. In addition, the Board of Elections told the election judges to encourage provisional ballots when possible so that voters felt like they were "part of the process." Of course, voters did not know that "being part of the process" with provisional votes might very likely mean not having their votes counted.

While the Diebold machines were being fixed, those in line decided to use paper ballots to cast their votes. The election judges incorrectly tagged these votes as provisional ballots. This took about two hours to resolve, as we had to wait for the election judge to have a moment when the voting line had slowed down and she could focus on the issue. When dealing with the incorrectly cast votes, the election judge broke the seal of the provisional ballot envelope in which the votes were stored. Again, we had to call the boiler room and the Board of Elections to make sure that breaking the seal wouldn't discount the votes. That took another hour to resolve.

What exasperated the provisional ballot situation was the fact that we had two precincts in one room. Precinct 16-E and 21-D were both in Rosa Parks Elementary School. If you were registered for 16-E but you went to the 21-D table, and they could not find you in their voter ledger, then you might have to cast a provisional ballot. And the tables are right next to each other. Gotto love Ohio, right?

Election Day: Midday
If you're not registered in Ohio, you’re not allowed to be in the voting location. Thus, the campaign set up Ohio attorneys inside the polling location, while out-of-state attorneys were posted outside. Our inside attorney, Julie, was in fact a third-year law student, and boy was she a trooper. A lovely person who may have been too nice, she did a great job. As the day wore on, Julie told us that she had to go to class or risk getting a bad grade. However, given the problems we faced, we knew we needed someone on the inside. As out-of-state attorneys, we could not go inside to resolve any issues. So we called the boiler room to see if they could send us a replacement attorney. We received a call from one of the lawyers in charge saying that we would not get a replacement. He then called Julie's law school and spoke with the Dean of Academic affairs to see if they would allow Julie to miss her class without penalty. They would not budge on their policy. Julie, knowing she would take a hit, decided to stay anyway, because she knew she would be critical in her role for the rest of the day. Again, mad props to Julie.

Under Ohio law, a precinct must post which registered voters have voted as of 11 a.m., 4 p.m., and a summary of votes at closing. Suffice it to say that none of these requirements were followed. 16-E didn't post their 11 a.m. posting until close to 1 p.m., and both precincts posted only partial summaries at 4 p.m. Knowing who had voted was critical to the Obama campaign, which had set up runners to gather the data and enter it into a large database in Columbus, Ohio. From Columbus, a large phone banking effort was underway to call those who had not yet voted, based on the information collected, and to try to get them out to vote. As I said before, the Obama operation was massive.

Late in the afternoon, an elderly gentleman came to us and said that he had received a call to go vote at a senior home. However, he was concerned that he was registered at 21-D. I asked him if he had already voted at the senior home, and he said he had. He was upset and concerned that there might be some fraud. I called the boiler room, and they confirmed that the senior home where he voted was legitimate. Relaying that information to him was not enough to satisfy him. The gentleman wanted to make sure his name was not on the voter ledger in 21-D. So we went inside to investigate. The election judge looked him up and found his name in the register. The voter was convinced that his prior voting location was a fraud. I reassured him that it was legitimate, and that his vote there had counted. I told him that if he voted again here, regardless of the duplicate registration, his vote would be canceled, and he would be committing voter fraud. He seemed to understand and eventually walked away. This experience left me wondering about strange activities that have happened in the past to create such distrust in people.

Another older gentleman came in entirely covered in sparkling Obama gear. In Ohio, voters are not allowed to wear any caps, pins, T-shirts, or carry any signs into the poll – these are all considered electioneering. The gentleman came with so much enthusiasm, and he seemed heartbroken to have to go home and change. Jonathan was prepared – he had on a large coat so we could cover up the voter. We asked him to take off his hat, and he borrowed Jonathan's jacket so he could go in and vote. The day was full of such stories of camaraderie, and an attitude of helping one another get the job done was prevalent everywhere.

Election Day: Evening
But wait, there's more. Around 5 p.m., a woman came to vote. She had a driver's license with her address, and she had registered to vote in 16-E. Unfortunately, she had moved just three days ago. I thought that she might be within a 10-day window and that she could still vote in 16-E. Jonathan said the rule was clear: you must vote in the precinct designated for where you currently live. I disagreed and called the boiler room. The attorney on the phone agreed with Jonathan and said that at best, the lady had to cast a provisional ballot at the other precinct. I asked what would happen if she voted in 16-E, and the attorney advised that doing so was considered voting fraud. Jonathan spent the next 30-60 minutes gloating over being right.

Shortly afterward, Jonathan's neurotic attention to detail got us reprimanded by the Board of Elections. Apparently, he had advised another voter that she should not have to cast a provisional ballot, and then after she entered the polling room, Jonathan realized he had misled her. When he ran after her to tell her that she would have to cast a provisional ballot, a poll worker became agitated and accused Jonathan of harassing voters. As a result, the election judge called the Board of Elections who got on the phone with Jonathan and told him we needed to move 100 feet away from the polling location or they would call the sheriff. We later received word from the Obama campaign that so long as we were not electioneering, we did not need to be outside the 100-foot boundary.

However, we didn't want to cause any more waves, so we stuck it out for the final two hours beyond the 100-foot line. Late in the day, we expected the lines to be long, but due to a large turnout in early voting, no such long line ever formed. The denouement was long and quite honestly a bit of a letdown. But we were there till the end, staying in touch with Julie on the inside via cell phone.

At the end of the day, when the poll closed, the election judges refused to give us a summary of the election machines. This started another round of calls with the boiler room and the Board of Elections. Ultimately, the election judges caved and gave us the tally. Given the largely African-American population of our precinct, approximately one percent of the votes were cast for McCain.

A few words about technology: Like Jack Bauer in 24, there is no way this election would have ever worked without cell phones. I might have a small tumor over my left ear with the amount of cell phone usage from that day. In addition, the amount of coordination and grassroots efforts that occurred could not have been possible without e-mail, the Internet, Mapquest, Google, etc. This entire event was a happy accident of clusterf*&^%ed multi-headed hydras. Jonathan suggested that it was more like a lifeboat drill, or a situation where you rehearse for a Mozart piece with a large orchestra, and just before the main performance, everyone changes instruments.

Election Night
At the end of the night, we went back to HQ to report in. After completing our obligation, we walked over to the victory party. Dayton HQ had booked a club with LCD screens, all tuned to MSNBC. The mood was energetic … a mix of anticipation, nerves, and booze. People from everywhere were glued to the television. I kept yelling, "Go Chucky!" every time Chuck Todd talked numbers. Yes, I'm an MSNBC geek.

One of the first states to report was Pennsylvania. When they called it for Barack, we all cheered because we knew this was going to happen. McCain needed Pennsylvania badly. Not only did he lose it, but the margin of his loss was close to predicted polls. The signal was clear – polls showing a 350+ electoral victory for Obama were probably accurate. And then we took Ohio, and the celebration really kicked up a notch. All of us in that venue knew that in some small way, we had helped be a part of history.

As we counted the seconds down to the California poll closing, the anticipation grew. We knew what was about to happen, but no one could believe it yet. When the California polls closed, Obama was the projected winner, and the entire place erupted in exuberant joy. Many said it was better then a new year's celebration. And then the house music started and most of us danced the night away. I got back to my hotel room around 3 a.m., still in utter disbelief about the surreal nature of the evening. I had pictured the moment of learning of his win for months, and I always thought I would cry, but I didn't. Maybe it hadn't hit me yet, so I went to sleep. When I awoke, I turned on CNN, and they played excerpts of Obama's speech from Chicago the night before. As the words fell on me, I wept.

The Day After: Nov. 5
On the way home from the airport after landing in Dallas, I stopped for gas. I had put in a 23-hour day and then had about five hours of sleep. I was exhausted, but for some reason, I faced the Dallas sun and smiled. An African-American lady pulled up next to me while I was refueling, and she asked how I was. I must have had a huge smile on my face, and I said, "I'm doing just great." She replied, "So am I. Isn't it a beautiful new day?" Having had an understanding that needed no further explanation, she smiled and drove on.

A few words about the people we encountered. Our hosts in Lima were an amazing older couple who were fiercely Democratic. They put Jonathan and me up in their home and made us feel welcome. David and Karen, we are very grateful for your hospitality. In Dayton, throughout the day, an organization known as Vote Dayton had mobilized individuals to drive people to the correct locations. They also ran a call center taking calls from people who wanted to look up where they were registered. Vote Dayton also provided morale boosts by visiting in line and cheering on people as they came to vote. At one point, they did group hugs for any first-time voters. I'm still on the fence as to if a group hug constitutes voter intimidation, but most first timers seemed to enjoy it. And finally, the Obama Get Out The Vote (GOTV) team also sent out runners who would periodically come by the precincts with snacks, sandwiches, coffee, food, etc. These people pulled a long day with no pay and took care of us while we observed the election. All in all, a remarkable team of diverse people making the long day that much more bearable. Last and certainly not least, to my friend, Stacie, and my partner-in-crime, Jonathan, I am very thankful to have shared the moment of this victory with the two of you. I will never forget where I was or who I was with when Barack Obama won the office of President of the United States.

Aftermath
It's been a week since Election Day, and I am still trying to process the complex set of emotions that I faced. The amount of hard work by thousands of staffers and volunteers that went into this effort (of which I only participated in the last five days) is incomprehensible. The euphoria of the win, incapable of being put into words. The smug look on our faces on the flight back, knowing we had helped win the battleground state of Ohio. The disappointment of returning to red Texas, balanced with the pride of living in Dallas county where we won by more than 57 percent. The moments of random tears when I hear an inspirational song or listen to his victory speech. Missing the temporary but intensely strong camaraderie that we built with people we worked with, and wondering if those moments will ever come back now that we have all gone our separate ways. The sadness of not sharing the moment of victory with my wife and son ... and yet, knowing that when my son is old enough to understand, he's going to have the pride that his old man was a part of this, that he went to Ohio to help, and that he didn't sit on the sidelines. It's a lot to take in. And I haven't even begun to deal with the social repercussions of the fact that we just elected a "half-breed" "secret Muslim terrorist" to the most powerful position on Earth. God bless America ... only here indeed.

I could keep writing about my experiences on and on. But this small part, the adventures in Ohio, has ended. Now the real work to fix this country begins. We've already done the impossible, so let's rise to the next challenge.

Yes we can, because we just did.