Electioneering for McPalin at the polls in Thousand Oaks

Electioneering for McPalin at the polls in Thousand Oaks
I was a poll inspector three elections running; this is the firstone I've missed. Here's what I saw when I pulled up to my pollingplace this morning: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ My polling place, at approximately 9:00am, the Prince of Peace Lutheran Church at 3415 Erbes Road, Thousand Oaks, CA . Parked in the driveway was a Lexus van (California license number 5 TKS 345) plastered everywhere with McCain stickers, Yes on Prop 8 stickers, Christians for McCain stickers-- a campaign on 4 wheels. This was well within the 100 foot limit of the polling place-- 78 feet to the front door, to be precise. (Another voter and I measured it with a measuring tape she had.) I complained to the poll inspector in charge of the site, Tawne Newcome, and she said she knew about it-- because it was _her_ vehicle. I told her it was out of line, and illegal. She got huffy and said she'd already moved it three times, that it was more than 100 feet from the front door (That was nonsense; it was 52 feet from the closest wall of the building, 78 feet from the door), and anyway, it was registered to her husband, so it didn't count. (?!?!) I and several other voters demanded to talk to her supervisor; we registered a formal complaint. I demanded she be removed from her position, which is supposed to be apolitical. The poll inspector Tawne Newcome, a Thousand Oaks resident like the rest of us, threw what I'd call a hissy fit: arguing, red-faced, furious, yelling.Myself and another voter, Susan Schroer, complained to the VenturaCounty election supervisors (805 654-2784). I spoke to a DonMorris, who told me there was "nothing wrong" and that they were onthe situation, that the vehicle was parked further than 100 feetfrom the "Polling Place" sign on the front door (How he knew this,from the city of Ventura 30 miles away, is a mystery to me.) We also called the police to have the car removed as a traffic hazard (it took up about 30% of the driveway). Mrs. Newcome left the site, reportedly to call her lawyer. She was replaced by her supervisor. The other poll workers-- Democrat AND Republican -- all seemed relieved that the nutjob had been removed. Submitted by Ted Newsom 1669 Woodside Drive, Thousand Oaks, CA 91362 805 300 6462 I hereby release all claims to copyright of the above image.This information may be circulated and reproduced.email from the other voter/witness:This picture and previous two were taken of car parked fifty feetfrom polling place in Thousand Oaks, California. When I went in tocomplain I was told that car belonged to precinct captain. Precinctcaptain stated it was her husband's car and he needed to be contactedto move it. Other volunteers had offered to follow her to park inother location and drive her back to polling place and stated thatshe was initially parked right next to building.Distance of car from polling place was measured by another voter andmyself and found to be 50 feet from polling place. Volunteers statedthat captain said it had to be 100 feet from "entrance to pollingplace" . This was measured and found to be 75 feet. Afterapproximately 30 minutes captain got in car and left, stating she wasgoing to speak with her "Republican representative attorney".-- Susan Schroer