Out at the polls on Election Day, there were more than 100 volunteers across Cuyahoga County, making sure your vote was counted.
They were a part of the national Election Protection Coalition.
Before the polls closed on Election Day, volunteers and attorneys with the National Election Protection Coalition were still busy fielding calls from their organizers on the ground at city precincts.
“The issue that we saw most frequently were problems with voter identification,” said Orion Danjuma, an attorney with the Election Protection Coalition.
More than 100 volunteers were stationed throughout Cuyahoga County and reported issues from poll workers and voters back to coalition headquarters.
Danjuma had the not so easy job of trying to fix the myriad of issues pouring in throughout the day.
“Making a system as complicated as this creates a huge amount of problems because it means that voters will be confused, poll workers will be confused, even people who administer the elections will be confused,” he said.
Some of the biggest issues on Election Day were dealing with Voter IDs, provisional ballots, and voters attempting to vote at the wrong precinct.
“People don’t remember where they’re registered,” said Gene Epstein, a Voter Protection Coalition volunteer.
Epstein braved the elements to help voters make sure their votes were counted.
“It’s very important for people to vote. Otherwise, the democracy isn’t working right. People should be voting,” she said.
For all the issues Tuesday night, the broken voting machines, and long lines, there were a lot more voting stories of success.
“I figured if everyone thought it was as important as I did that they would be here early, due to work, I was just here a little later, but it’s very important,” said one voter.
The coalition worked in conjunction with the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections to fix various issues. They weren’t only in Cuyahoga County though, the coalition had hundreds of volunteers scattered across the state.
