{"id":49823,"date":"2022-11-13T14:48:30","date_gmt":"2022-11-13T22:48:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=49823"},"modified":"2022-11-13T14:48:30","modified_gmt":"2022-11-13T22:48:30","slug":"everyday-erinyes-344","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2022\/11\/13\/everyday-erinyes-344\/","title":{"rendered":"Everyday Erinyes #344"},"content":{"rendered":"

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, though no one really knows how many there were supposed to be, the three names we have are Alecto<\/span><\/strong>, Megaera<\/strong><\/span>, and Tisiphone<\/span><\/strong>. These roughly translate as “unceasing,” “grudging,” and “vengeful destruction.”<\/p>\n

It’s a funny thing about this election – it has caused a number of people who were already knowledgeable about elections, but from a different perspective, to get personally into the process right at the precinct level. I already mentioned that my other Senator (the one who wasn’t running for reelection) decided to be a poll watcher, went through all the training, and spent the day at the polling place, watching voters come in, watching what happened to the ballots, observing the nuts and bolts. And here we have a nationally recognized expert in election law at the University of Iowa College of Law, where he studies and teaches about the role of states in the administration of federal elections, who has decided that is not enough – he needed to go right down into a precinct and observe the process by working in it himself. And he has done so before in more than one state.
\n==============================================================<\/p>\n

I\u2019m an election law expert who ran a polling station this election \u2013 here\u2019s what I learned about the powerful role of local officials in applying the law\u00a0fairly<\/h1>\n
Local residents wait in line to receive their ballots before casting their vote, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in West Des Moines, Iowa.
\nAP Photo\/Charlie Neibergall<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Derek T. Muller<\/a>, University of Iowa<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Derek Muller<\/a> is a nationally recognized expert in election law at the University of Iowa College of Law, where he studies and teaches about the role of states in the administration of federal elections. In late October he submitted an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court<\/a> on a case that could drastically reshape U.S. elections, addressing the independent state legislature theory<\/a>. But Muller doesn\u2019t just understand election law from an ivory tower perch. On Election Day, he was a precinct chair in Iowa City, running a polling station inside the University of Iowa. The Conversation U.S. asked him to reflect on what it\u2019s like to be both a election law scholar and an election worker.<\/em><\/p>\n

You occupy a pretty high place in the world of election law scholars. But here you are, participating at the most basic level in an election and in our democracy.<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve worked as a poll worker several times in California and in Iowa. It\u2019s just a remarkable opportunity to see boots on the ground, what the effects of the law can be in the day-to-day administration of an election. And it\u2019s a very practical way of giving back to the community and participating in a way that can help voters at the most important points of their contact with the democratic process.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Election law scholar Derek Muller checking in a voter on Election Day 2022 at a polling place on the campus of the University of Iowa.<\/span>
\nDerek Muller<\/span>, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Did you see anything different this election from previous ones you\u2019ve worked?<\/h2>\n

Turnout was higher than 2021<\/a> in Iowa. But that was an off-year election. I think there\u2019s been a return to in-person voting in a lot of places. Whether that\u2019s because of COVID-19 or whether that\u2019s because of changes to absentee ballot rules like those in Iowa, it\u2019s not clear. Otherwise, it was pretty typical of how I\u2019ve seen the elections run in the county before.<\/p>\n

What was your precise job?<\/h2>\n

As a precinct chair, my responsibility is to make sure that I contact the other precinct election officials who are working the day. I collect the supplies the night before that we\u2019re going to need for the election. I help set up and organize the precinct ahead of the polls opening and assign people to different functions. I troubleshoot any problems that arise from the other officials. We had an election observer in the room at all times from one of the parties, so they check in with me.<\/p>\n

If there were problems I couldn\u2019t solve, then it was up to me to contact our rover, essentially a supervisor who \u201croves\u201d across six different precincts, or the county auditor\u2019s office if other problems arose.<\/p>\n

Did you get any sense from voters what they were thinking about?<\/h2>\n

Occasionally, some people made comments about the process because they were frustrated if they didn\u2019t have the right ID or their ID was expired. And then there are the other people who were really excited \u2013 it\u2019s their first time voting, they want to have a selfie or they\u2019re really excited about how easy the process is, or they\u2019re really grateful that these workers are spending 15 hours sitting there, so you get a range of statements from voters. I think people are always pleased to do their civic duty. They\u2019re enthused to get a sticker and head out the door.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Election law scholar Derek Muller checking in a voter on Election Day 2022 at a polling place on the campus of the University of Iowa.<\/span>
\nDerek Muller<\/span>, CC BY-SA<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Was there something you saw that might inform your work as a scholar, or something that your scholarship informed in terms of what you did there?<\/h2>\n

I see how election officials have discretion; how the way they phrase things can have an effect on the voters.<\/p>\n

If somebody doesn\u2019t have the right proof of residency, for instance, it\u2019s kind of discretionary what an election official does.<\/p>\n

Do you say, \u201cIf you can go home and find your proof of residency and bring it in, that would be great. We\u2019d love to get you registered today so we can have the opportunity for you to vote. But you know, there\u2019s only two hours left in the polls being open.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or do you say, \u201cI don\u2019t think you\u2019re going be able to get home and find that and get back, so we can have you cast a provisional ballot.\u201d But if you encourage that they might fill that ballot out, and never come back to cure it, so their vote won\u2019t count.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re trying to provide opportunities for voters to consider things that really give them a choice without driving them into a direction that can skew the decision-making. That\u2019s really hard.<\/p>\n

In that interaction, you have the power to make their vote more or less likely to count.<\/h2>\n

Yes.<\/p>\n

On the other side, as a scholar doing this Election Day work, I realize that we have these laws that we write and think they make sense until they play out on the ground. And then election officials are supposed to juggle things.<\/p>\n

Can you give us an example?<\/h2>\n

You have the statutes on the books about proof of residency. For instance, if you\u2019re trying to establish residency on Election Day, you need a utility bill, or a cellphone bill.<\/p>\n

But questions arise where somebody who wants to vote says, \u201cI have this statement from the university to my home address billing me for services\u201d or \u201cI have a health care bill\u201d or a heating bill. Do these things count? You don\u2019t have a lot of guidance there, and you\u2019re trying to make your best judgment call.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
The University of Iowa provided voter information on its website.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In late October you submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court on the independent state legislature theory. Less than two weeks later, you\u2019re sitting at a table signing in voters. What\u2019s that like?<\/h2>\n

I like both. Writing academic works and articles is important. Writing big-idea amicus briefs to the Supreme Court is important, and I\u2019m honored to have done a little bit of that<\/a>. I don\u2019t know that I\u2019ve had as much influence as others have had, but we\u2019ll see what the Supreme Court has to say.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s no better way of seeing how these laws play out in the voting process than seeing it at the ground level. We have all these ideas about how elections work, but you can\u2019t understand the law\u2019s implications until you get there and see a lot of volunteers, a lot of senior citizens or retirees who are participating in running the process. And then there\u2019s the added benefit of working in my community.<\/p>\n

Did the political maelstrom in the rest of the country affect your polling place in Iowa?<\/h2>\n

In places like Arizona, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin or Michigan there was just a lot of heat, rhetoric and a lot of energy spent by Republicans talking about the election process and the election system. And that trickled into the primaries in those states and in other states where there are senators or governors on the ballot. In Iowa, you didn\u2019t have people who are openly questioning our election process.<\/p>\n

What about recent concerns about many election officials coming from a partisan background?<\/h2>\n

Working with election officials, including our auditor in Johnson County, you learn how professional these officials and their staff are, and the care and attention they put into their work, year in and year out, to make these things run smoothly. They don\u2019t want problems. There can be consequences for a poorly run election. People might not want you to serve in that job again.<\/p>\n

In Iowa, they do a really good job of having bipartisan balance on every precinct. Whenever there\u2019s anything involving tabulation of ballots, there\u2019s always a bipartisan team at every precinct who\u2019s involved in that. They do a good job of trying to eliminate some of the politics from the process. I think, for the most part, election officials want the election run as smoothly as possible, and they\u2019re doing everything they can to that end.\"The<\/p>\n

Derek T. Muller<\/a>, Professor of Law, University of Iowa<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n

==============================================================
\nAlecto<\/span><\/strong>, Megaera<\/strong><\/span>, and Tisiphone<\/span><\/strong>, we need to see more of this, please. And not just in regard to elections. But people in academia, people in legislature or the administration, people in the judiciary at all levels, coming in as just a citizen to see what it looks like from the bottom. Yes, listening to people who have been there helps … but there is nothing like seeing for oneself.<\/p>\n

The Furies and I will be back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Experts in autocracies have pointed out that it is, unfortunately, easy to slip into normalizing the tyrant, hence it is important to hang on to outrage. These incidents which seem to call for the efforts of the Greek Furies (Erinyes) to come and deal with them will, I hope, help with that. As a reminder, […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":48958,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3781,3729],"class_list":["post-49823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-elections","tag-furies","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49823\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48958"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}