September 5, 2006
D'oh! D.C. Voter Guides Make Mistake
Right around now, most District households should have their handy 2006 Voters Guide, the booklet running through the details of the upcoming September 12 primary and featuring short vignettes on all the candidates on the ballot. More importantly, though, the booklets each have a specific notation listing a precinct number that track to the polling place each registered voter is to visit to cast their ballot. Well, kind of.
It seems that the company contracted by the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics to print and deliver the voter guides didn't do a very good job — they screwed up the precinct numbers on many of the guides delivered. The problem? Many voters might end up at the wrong polling place on election day. D.C. officials are no doubt a little red in the face, and they are encouraging voters to call (202) 727-2525 or visit the board's website to verify their precinct number and polling place.
Even more amusing (or is it disturbing?) than the simple snafu is the company that made it, Toucan Printing and Promotional Products. As reported by D.C. Watch:
Toucan is the same company that printed the District’s income tax booklet and forms earlier this year, and failed to include information that the Chief Financial Officer’s office had instructed them to include about how taxpayers could contribute to the District’s Statehood Delegation Fund on their 2005 DC individual income tax returns. In January 2004, the BOEE’s Voter Guides were mailed so late that they arrived at most households on or after the day of the presidential primary. Later that year, the Guides that were mailed for the September 14, 2004, primary election also had mailing labels that directed voters to the wrong polling sites.And this coming from a company that touts its "service and attention to detail" on its website. Shouldn't someone somewhere be fired for this one?
|
No, the printing company shouldn't be fired. The person with the District who proofed the final version should be fired. Who sends in a print job without at least three people looking at the final proof? Seriously. A printer is just that. A printer.
Maybe they should be touting something else on their website like:
"Proudly employing DC bureaucrats' friends and family in no-show jobs since 1960!"
Is it just me or did this last election time too?
Anybody else remember this?
Seriously, these kinds of things call for a tag-line along the lines of "forget it Jake, it's Chinatown." E.g., "forget it, Marty, it's D.C."
m -- The Board claims they provided the correct information. As we don't have access to the proofs, no one really knows..
This is the kind of problem that wouldn't show up in a proof--that info was probably linked to the mailing information.
I was wondering about this. I actually read through a good part of the guide on Saturday during the rainstorm, and noted several minor typos in addition to the precinct screw-up. Plus, if you check the DC website, guess what -- the guide on-line is from 2004 ( see http://www.dcboee.org/voterinfo/voter_guide.shtm)!
While I've come to expect such incompetence from all levels of the DC bureaucracy, it's not easy to get over the feeling that the asylum is being run by the patients, or whatever that saying is. Typical shoddy, discouraging performance from the staff we pay to supposedly "run" the city.
I live downtown. About 6 of the 8 years I've lived here (and I've been registered the whole time), my voter's guide showed up in my mailbox AFTER the election. Whose fault is that?
What a mess. I wondered if they would send out "correction" postcards and how much that might cost! I called the Board this weekend after noticing the mistake. They did not print the second number, so all voters assigned to polling place 13, would think they should vote at polling place 1 etc. I was told to go to the polling location on my voter registration card. I'm sure they have received so many calls - the guy who answered the phone actually answered my question before I had a chance to ask it.
My girlfriend's guide arrived saying she should report to polling station 1. I thought, "hmm, that's odd--what are the chances she'd be at polling station 1, especially when there are about 10 polling stations closer to her apartment?" Now I know! Thanks, DC Government!
As bad as the printing is, the content is worse. Some of the candidate statements are so poorly written that they are nearly unreadable. State or no state, I would say that this may be the worst crop of candidates to run for public office in the country.
"this may be the worst crop of candidates to run for public office in the country"
Spoken like someone whose never been to Rhode Island.
To Deja Vu: Yes, they had similar problems with misprinted precincts a few years ago.
No, no one from Toucan should be fired because the board of elections did not give accurate information. Toucan printed what they were told to print.