One thing I learned yesterday is that no matter how many signs there are with directional arrows

[conuly]

No matter how clearly the very short and direct route from the door to the actual polls is, there will inevitably be some people who think they're supposed to turn at the hallway. Why would you think that? The signs all say to keep going straight! Or they get to the door, the door that is clearly marked with multiple signs saying "VOTE HERE" in two different languages, plus arrows pointing in, glance inside to see that it's full of polling stations, and ask if this is where they're supposed to go.

*headdesk*

And that is why the Board of Elections hires so many people as lineworkers. If they didn't, a lot of people would get lost and never vote.

Of course, it's not just them. One of the women* I was working with made that same observation, and I didn't say it but this is somebody who is apparently incapable of reading the very clear instructions on the envelopes and the signs themselves before putting them up, and who doesn't understand the difference between "Hold up, this particular sign which says it has to be posted 100 feet from the entrance needs to be posted 100 feet from the entrance, I'll go do that" and "All signs must be posted 100 feet from the entrance, even the ones which clearly state that they get posted somewhere very specifically different from that".

And there was technically a test, so she must be at least literate.

I also found out that if the polling place has a very shiny floor, literally everybody will comment on it. Including me! The new floor is very nice. But what they really need to do now is replace the flooring in the hallway, the tiles of which are so worn down that they're a serious tripping hazard in multiple places. Looking at them closely, I'm pretty sure what happened is that when they first tiled the hallway they picked something very nice that's suitable for home use instead of something slightly less fancy but more durable for a high-use area.

* Pollworkers, in my experience, are almost always women, and yesterday was no exception.

Comments

[rebeccmeister]

I definitely have a lot of respect for people whose job it is to design directional signs, and also for architects who study traffic flow patterns so as to construct buildings where travel directions are intuitive (see, in contrast, the Koolhas-designed downtown Seattle Public Library, where people were definitely getting lost in the stacks before better signage was installed!).

[dewline]

Wayfinding signage is definitely both a science and an artform - at the same time! - by now. You can and will find jobs advertising for such specialists.

[profiterole_reads]

Ah, but I think it's tempting to ask if this is the right place when someone's there for that purpose only. Instead of just ignoring you (well, saying hi and then ignoring you).

[thewayne]

They moved our local polling place from the town council chambers to the high school gym, dunno why. 55 people had voted as of when I went in at 11am: three races and one ballot proposition.

Decisions, decisions!

My wife was going to work the election, but us all coming down with Covid right before the election kinda nixed that. She tested negative Monday, but a bit late to reschedule things.

[frandroid]

Someone I Help a Lot With the Computer often struggles with clear instructions when seen for the first time. We're going through a new form, the page is basically all white, 3 fields, and a Big Blue NEXT button at the bottom. I ask them to fill the form. They fill it and then they wait. I say "Click Next". They scan the screen and are puzzled. I say "please click the blue button". Then they find the button and click it. The second time they see the form, they're likely breeze through it though. This person has a PhD so it's something else than literacy...

[gwydion]

Some people just really have trouble processing either verbal and/or written directions. It's something one has to design for in teaching. Practice can improve somewhat, but on a fundamental level it's a brain variation issue. It's why we are told to give directions three times in a minimum of three different ways.

I know how frustrating it is, trust me.

[silveradept]

Sometimes it's been a hot second since we were in a school, and we don't know the way. Even if the way is lined with signs and big things making it clear where the destination is and what you can expect to see there.

Here's hoping for more repaired tiles.

[conuly]

This building isn't a school and... honestly, it's like twenty steps in a straight line from the door to the big room with the polls. Plus, this has been our local polling place for a good dozen years by now, so....

[silveradept]

Oops, got yours confused with someone else. Twenty steps in a line is much less likely to create confusion. If there are potential turns, some people will interpret "go straight" as "follow the turn."

[chez_jae]

Where I used to work, it was simple common knowledge that people (customers) don't read. Not that they can't; they DON'T.

:/

[thekumquat]

My experience (UK) is a fairly even mix of male and female poll workers, with older ones on earlier in the day rather than staying up until the count is finished.

They tend to be local council staff or civil servants, as they've already got the necessary background checks done. I had the chance to do it a couple times but had new babies so didn't. The count in my constituency is never very interesting as it's the kind of place you can weigh the vote for Labour, but there's some swing constituencies nearby.

[cellio]

I was surprised this time that two of the three pollworkers I encountered were male. As you say, that's not the usual distribution.

One was stationed at the door of the school gym where we were voting (i.e. through the building entrance and hall), and he asked me "do you know where you need to go?". "Uh, here?" I said, taking in a room with voting setup. This was not a question I expected. He meant did I know which of the four districts (?) voting in that room I needed to go to. (I did; most apparently don't.)