What If It Just Needs a Little Tweaking?

I’ve read several papers that address the long lines experienced at the 2012 General Election. The general impressions I’m left with are that the problem was universally widespread and that a lot of things are broken and need to be fixed. The proposed solutions, many costly and requiring years to fully implement, may not actually solve the problem and, in some cases, may actually create new ones.

While this may seem to be backed up by some media reports, the success stories are not newsworthy so the intensity of the problem may be a bit skewed. Over all, in my humble opinion, we do a pretty good job of running elections with the restrictions and resources we have to work with. In fact, many polling places fared much better than reports would indicate and those that didn’t might benefit more from a simple tweak. A low or no cost tweak that could be implemented without Department of Justice pre-clearance, would apply to any and all polling places, would produce immediate results in all elections and maybe even go a long way toward relieving long lines at some of the polls.

The tweak is called Excellent Customer Service.

Since I’m well known for correlations, I won’t disappoint now.

Let’s look at operating polling places from a business viewpoint. A business measures its success by the bottom line which is the dollar bill in the till. A business improves the bottom line by providing valued product accompanied with Excellent Customer Service. Watch any of the television reality shows about a failing restaurant, bar or hair salon and you will quickly arrive at the same conclusions – the business is failing because of inferior product and unsatisfactory service. Once these issues are corrected, the failing establishment is quickly on its way to recovery.

The measure of a successful polling place is the ballot in the box and the ease with which a voter gets it there. How does a polling place improve the bottom line? By providing a valued product accompanied with Excellent Customer Service. Sound familiar? I wonder how a polling place would fare if Chef Ramsey (Restaurant Nightmares), Chef Irvine (Restaurant Impossible), Willie Degel (Restaurant Stakeout), Jon Taffer (Bar Rescue) or Tabatha Coffey (Tabatha Takes Over) were to take on the challenge of a polling place failure to deliver to voter’s expectations.

Although there is little local control over the product, a brief side discussion is warranted. If a restaurant menu doesn’t include enough choices, diners will dine elsewhere. On the other hand, a menu with too many choices leads to systemic failures in the kitchen which lead to diner dissatisfaction which results in a loss of business. So, too, a ballot without choices leads to voting apathy. Since there is no “elsewhere” to go to vote, voters choose to just not go. So, too, do pundits have it right when they say that a complicated ballot undermines the voting process. A ballot with too many choices, like complicated referendums on a ballot in a major election, leads to systemic confusion, delays and long lines. This discourages voters from continued participation in elections, especially new voters who are likely to stay away from future elections to avoid the frustration.

While there may not be a lot of control over the ballot at our level, certainly the voter experience can be influenced. Although some equipment logistics may need to be addressed, they are not going to be effective if customer service isn’t addressed. After all, even old and tired kitchen equipment can produce a satisfying dinner. I’ve heard (or said myself) numerous times that the food was well worth the wait. But if the service is below par, the food won’t matter because the diner will refuse to hang around long enough to taste it.

When it comes to customer service, everyone in a commercial establishment from the Owner, to the General Manager, to the Front of House Manager to the Wait Staff must be well-trained, communicate well and have a common goal in sight – Excellent Customer Service – in order to ensure satisfied customers, generate large tabs and tips, and lead to repeat business so that everyone makes a lot of money.

Applied to the voting process, everyone involved from the Electoral Board to the General Registrar and staff, to the Chief Officer, to the Officers of Election must be well-trained, communicate well and have a common goal in sight – Excellent Customer Service – in order to ensure satisfied voters, creates repeat business and make sure that all elections are meaningful by increased participation.

In order to provide Excellent Customer Service, you must study every interaction that affects a voter’s experience and take action to address each one to ensure the most positive experience. Do voters move through the polling place in a logical and efficient pattern or do they have to crisscross the room several times creating unnecessary delay and frustration? Are voters greeted with smiles and offers of explanation or assistance as they make their way through the stations or is it a minefield of unexpected unpleasant chance meetings? Sure, more pollbook stations will help, but that isn’t the end-all be-all solution. Are voters reminded to have their ID card out for the Pollbook Officer? Rummaging for an ID after they get to the pollbook table can back the line up quickly. Does the Pollbook Officer have their hand out in a taking gesture as the voter approaches? People react to visual stimuli. The gesture is universal for “give me” and they’ve been pre-conditioned as to what to give by the Greeter. Without a word said, the voter’s instinct is to hand over the ID. This approach to one simple interaction with each and every voter can change a real time waster and line management problem into a line mover. When there is an issue with the voter’s status that prevents immediate check in and ballot issue, is the problem dealt with at the register or sent to the customer service desk so that the register keeps on ringing – Oops!  Is the issue dealt with at the pollbook table or sent to the Chief so that the voter line keeps on moving through check in?

Studies abound on the effect on people of waiting in line. When a person that is waiting in line is consumed by their golf tee time or picking up their toddler at day care, a ten minute wait in line will seem like an hour. Distract that same person by engaging them in some other way (How about those Yankees?) and that hour wait only feels like ten minutes. Our brains have a funny way of dealing with things that would astound you, just watch Brain Games a couple of times and you’ll come to the same conclusion. A person left to stew over the wait time and allowed to develop line rage is much less likely to be as pleasant and cooperative at the pollbook table as a person who has had a pleasant interaction with an Officer of Election. Hand out paper towels on rainy election days or offer a folding chair to an elderly voter while they are waiting in line. Smile, provide an encouraging word, engage the voter in a friendly interaction. It comes down to the little things. Need proof? Go to any major theme park, wait in line for a ride, and allow yourself to be distracted by the videos and music while you wait. Oh, wait, you’re next already?

There are dozens of additional ways to ensure a positive experience by a voter. Are the practices in the polling place designed to provide excellent customer service as well as meet the requirements of law? Are the Officers of Election specifically trained in, and believe in, providing excellent customer service? Do they place the same priority on customer service as exists in the General Registrar’s office? Do they care enough to actively seek ways to improve the service provided to the voter? The answers to these questions will indicate where tweaking is necessary to solve issues that lead to long lines at the polls and make the wait more tolerable when long lines do occur. In many cases, maybe, just maybe, a simple tweak is all that’s really necessary and then those other more complicated and costly solutions can be targeted to those few specific instances that truly warrant them.