Ann Marie Palen

1869 Otisco Valley Road

Marietta, New York 13110

(315) 636-9918

February 26, 2004

BY FACSIMILE (315) 435-8451

Republican Commissioner Helen M. Kiggins

Democratic Commissioner Edward J. Szczesniak

Onondaga County Board of Elections

15th Floor John H. Mulroy Civic Center

Syracuse, New York 13202

Dear Helen and Edward:

As you may know, I have served as an Election Inspector for roughly the past ten years for Spafford District 2. I am the Chairperson of the Inspectors and have been for many years. I have enjoyed working with the other Inspectors very much, as they are a very professional, yet friendly group of ladies from the community. Never has there been an instance where something was said or done in an unprofessional of inappropriate manner. In fact, I was going to write a letter as Chairperson, to praise their efforts and proper judgment in handling a very difficult situation.

On the last Election Day, we were informed that there would be poll watches present. We duly collected the required certificates and indicated where they were to sit. At that time, a woman (whom I later was informed was a candidate, Joyce Barnett) came in and dropped off her purse and what looked like a carrying bag of some sort, on the poll watcher’s table. That place became her “station” to which she returned sporadically on and off during the day. I thought she was a poll watcher that had not yet taken her post - but when she continued to make her check-ins with the poll watchers, it became obvious that she was a candidate and that she was checking the ongoing status of the voters.

The poll watchers early in the day were not a problem, but we did on numerous occasions have to remind them not to interrupt the process of the voters signing in and standing in line to cast their votes. It was more of a social occasion for some of the poll watchers, who called people away from our main desk in order to get the name of the voter first, or call a friend out of line in order to ask, “Have you voted for the Spafford Party yet?” loud enough for anyone and everyone to hear. To me, that is political discussion within the polling place and is not

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appropriate. I had to approach the poll watchers desk on different occasions and ask them if they had a poll watchers instruction sheet, which we provided to them. I indicated that the primary function of the polling place is to have the registered voters come in to the polling place, sign in at our table, and cast their vote. We had no problem providing the name of the voters to the poll watchers after sign-in and the vote was cast, but did not feel it was appropriate when we had a line of people at our desk to be signed-in. One of the watchers, Dr. Fritelli yelled over to me, and said, “I said, who is that?!” I said I would be with him in just a moment, and proceeded to sign-in the voter and direct them to stand in line. He became angry and yelled that it was my duty and responsibility to provide him with the names of the voters. This was met with much unease and eye-rolling from the voters who were standing in line to vote. I told him I would provide him with the names but it did not have to be done in such an untimely, course manner. I simply wanted the voters to be unimpeded in their process. Dr. Fritelli is hard of hearing and I did not feel it was very professional or efficient to be yelling out names in front of the voters as if we were at a Bingo hail. I restated what our primary function was and that the assistance they were demanding was secondary. They became incensed. At this point, whenever a few more people would come in, they would call them over to their table and discuss their maltreatment and throw in a taunting pointed finger and reference to how adverse we were to the Spafford Party.

Our group of Inspections pride ourselves on being a friendly group of people, who duly attend the training sessions and ask questions of the Board of Elections, as needed, and are deeply insulted that there are accusations being thrown around of this nature. We are nonpartisan as the position requires, and feel that the rules state that no partisan comments and/or remarks should be thrown around. It was at this point that I called Helen Kiggins and informed her that one of the candidates was spending an inordinate amount of time at the polling place and that the poll watchers had taken a stance thus interrupting and interfering with the casting of votes. Helen’s response was “Do you want to call the Sheriffs or shall I?” I indicated that she had left the building and that I did not feel that there was a threat any longer. She gave me the authority to call 911 for assistance in the event that Ms. Barnett returned.

She did, in fact, return, and actually confronted one of the Election Inspectors who asked her to vacate the premises, based on my phone call with Helen. She became very angry and said we were violating her Constitutional rights and that we would be sued as well as having been removed permanently from our positions as Election Inspectors. Ms. Barnett became physically threatening and put herself directly in Barbara Shoemaker’s face, yelling and insulting and threatening. Barbara’s tolerance of Ms. Barnett’s comments, as well as the extreme physical closeness brought on by Ms. Barnett, (while maintaining calm and in control) was worthy of commendation. I believe another call was made to the Board of Elections, and she was told to leave immediately or risk the Sheriffs being called to the scene. She did, however, return at the end of the day as the polls were closing. At that time, we had far more work to do than babysit this candidate, so we attended to the tasks at hand.

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As you can see in the letter, our little event was not the only one that took place that day. Unfortunately she had other situations of her own creation in the other Ward. Sometimes, as many parents know, there are three sides to every story. Each side has a story, and the truth lies somewhere in the middle. One might consider that sometimes you have to take a closer look at the one common denominator in this Election Day from Hell.  Ms. Barnett was the one who appeared in every scene and she was the one stirring the pot. Her closing paragraph even attempts to point the finger at the Board of Elections. Talk about lacking a sense of professionalism and integrity...

We all, as I’m sure you are aware, have sent in our post cards to work at the upcoming Presidential Primary and will work accordingly at the General Election in November. I trust there will not be a repeat performance. We as Election Inspectors work very hard and very long hours and it is a duty that we all thoroughly enjoy. We do not do it for the money. We do not do it to socialize. We do it because we feel strongly about the Election process itself and it is a way that we, as individuals, can contribute to this democracy. A thank you goes out from all of the Spafford District 2 Election Inspectors to the Board of Elections for giving us this opportunity to participate in this process. Helen, you provided direction and gave us support when we asked for it, exactly as you promise win the training sessions. I, personally, and as the Chairperson for the Election Inspectors in Spafford District 2, would like to thank the other Inspectors for their unwavering dedication to providing this demanding and often overlooked service. You do a wonderful job, each and every one of you, and I look forward to working with you for years to come.

Sincerely,

Ann Marie Palen, Chairperson