Fifth Time’s the Charm: Mishaps as a First-Time Voter

The three possible “I Voted” stickers for the 2020 election in New York State | Photo courtesy of NY.gov

The opinions reflected in this OpEd are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of staff, faculty and students of The King's College.

This election year has been crazy; there’s no denying that. We dealt with multiple crises while also trying to outlive a pandemic. Yet, for me, one of the most confusing (albeit fun) experiences I had this year was trying to vote.

First things first, when you register, you receive a voter registration card. I did not want to lose my card between then and now, so I had it sent to my grandmother’s house, where she keeps a file on all things “Alex Kemsley.” Unfortunately, my card was disregarded as junk mail and promptly thrown into her recycling. As a first time voter, you know nothing unless you do serious research beforehand. But for me, research just wasn’t enough.
Problem two is that government websites are confusing. I searched, “What do I need to bring to vote in NYC?” The answer? I still don’t know. 

One website said, “proof of residency in the borough [I] registered.” Another said, “a N.Y. State Driver’s I.D.,” which is an issue considering I am from Texas. 

So what does an average person do when they have no idea what to bring? They call the Brooklyn Borough Board of Election to ask. Unfortunately, when the person you get on the phone is not very kind, and you waited a considerable amount of time to talk to them, it does not make for a pleasurable experience. 

At this point, I decided I would show up at my polling place and hope for the best. My schedule is organized so that I have my Fridays completely off, which sounds great in theory, but when you’re me, you sometimes get your days mixed up. So on Friday, October 23rd, I walked the four blocks to the polling place and there was no one there.

After standing there for 15 minutes thinking I was early, I reevaluated my position and walked up to the nearest, knowledgeable-looking adult.

“First-time voter? You’re a poll worker.”

I was not. I was just embarrassed to be there on the wrong day.
On Saturday, October 24th, I was at the Brooklyn Pier at about 9:30 a.m. for the House of Margaret Thatcher Big/Little Reveals. I learned that three upperclassmen were going to vote after the event and that I could join them. I was so excited—I was finally going to vote in the presidential election! But my enthusiasm quickly dissipated when we got there and saw the four-block-long line wrapping around and looping back. 

“Excuse me, ma’am, how long have you been waiting in line?”

“About an hour and a half, but if you get in line right now, you’ll probably be waiting for about three hours.”

We all looked at each other and discussed, deciding we would come back on Monday at 6:30 a.m. to be among the first voters in line. We ended up getting there at 7:30 a.m., which was 30 minutes after the poll opened, only to find the same line in front of us. With classes, waiting in the line that morning wasn’t an option either. 

We discussed it once more. The workday has got to be the best time to arrive. I said that I would come after my 1:30 p.m. class and update them on the situation and my roommate decided to join me. We walked merrily to the poll, hoping and praying that there would be no line. And behold, there was no line—because the poll was closed. 

I was going to give up, but my very politically-involved mother would never forgive me. So I marched to the poll again on Tuesday and decided that I would wait in that line no matter what. So I arrived at precisely 3:19 p.m. straight from work. As I finally entered the poll at 4:15, I only felt relief.

Turns out, the only thing you need to vote is your name and the address you registered with, which is in their system. It took me about five minutes to fill out my ballot in its entirety, scan it, get my voting sticker, and leave. This would have been a much easier process (and not as fun as an experience) if the government had done a few things:

I don’t think we would have as much of an issue with lines if the government just opened one or two more poll sites. Sure, that means more volunteers, but I think in the future, more voters would be willing to vote if they didn’t have to take a hearty chunk out of their day to do it. And with that, have the polls open at consistent times. I shouldn’t have to finagle my schedule to get this done and Google “early voting times NYC” a minimum of three times a day to cast my ballot. 

Finally, a website. This might be my biggest request for the government. (Filing my COVID stimulus form with the IRS was more straightforward than what they had!) If the government created an easy-to-read “First-Time Voter’s Guide to the Poll and the Voting System,” I might not have had to visit my station on five separate occasions. 

So even during the 2020 crisis, voting was worth it. A couple of celebratory Facebook posts and an Instagram direct message later, it was nice to have something to laugh about after this past year—even if I was laughing about myself.