So, on Election Day, I volunteered as a poll worker. It was my 1st time doing so, & I want to talk about a particular aspect of it here, especially b/c I think it's relevant info for folks who have experience working with personal info as data (incl. librarians, DHers, etc.) 1/

I ended up spending my day running the Help Desk at a local precinct. When you go to vote, you show your ID and get your name checked before you go into the booth. Sometimes there are error msgs, or they just can't find you. That's when you get sent to me. 2/

Mostly, people coming over to me were flagged either as "inactive," or my colleagues at the main desk couldn't find them in the system at all. Or, they had recently moved, & needed to show proof of new address & fill out an update form. 3/

I didn't have any special computer or anything -- what I did have was my own phone, and the phone number to the local Voter Information Desk. I spent about 60-70% of my day on hold or talking with the volunteers there, who *did* have access to a computer system to check. 4/

The goal, whenever I called in, was to find the people in the system, and either confirm that they *were* registered, & had done so by the deadline in DE, or confirm that they weren't registered. (Or, if need be, let them vote a provisional ballot.) 5/

People are used to identifying themselves by name (aren't we all, mostly?) -- but if you were at the help desk b/c they couldn't find you in the registry, that meant that your name hadn't worked somehow, even if it was printed on your state ID/DL. 6/

For a lot of the folks who came to me, not having their name be found was pretty worrying for them: they wanted to vote; they had tried to go to the right polling place; sometimes they were taking time off from work, etc.

Happily, as a data person, I'm used to this. 7/

Lots of people haven't worked with names as data before, so a quick primer. In the US, we think of people as mostly having a first name, a last name, & a middle name. (It's the white default.) The databases where our personal info is listed are built w/ similar expectations. 8/

There are various systems for personal info (from accounts with online shops, to mailing lists w/ organizations you're associated with, to "official," government systems.) And various identity data models to facilitate different sorts of stuff, from communication to research. 9/

I say this, not to go into the weeds, but to emphasize how much variation there can be on whether your name is stored in 1 field, 2 fields, or whatever. There is not a single agreed-upon standard that all orgs w/ identity mgmt systems, or all orgs who make them, agree to. 10/

Databases have rules built in that are meant to make it as likely as possible that the data in them gets entered properly. These rules sometimes specify that you can't have numbers, or spaces, or certain characters (incl. hyphens). Or they'll be character limits. 11/

Here's the thing: those systems often aren't adequate to the forms that people's names come in. Here's a good, short intro on personal names around the world, & how/why our databases aren't always adequate to them, from the W3C https://www.w3.org/International/questions/qa-personal-names 12/

Throughout the day, when someone came over because their name wasn't showing up in the computer at the main table, it was b/c the system was expecting them to have that standard firstname middlename lastname format, and they didn't; & the system wasn't accommodating them. 13/

Happily, their names weren't the only piece of info I had to find them w/ the voter info desk. I had their address, their birthdate, the number from their state ID/DL, &/or the last 4 of their SSN. & throughout the day, I used all of those w/ the voter info desk to find them. 14/

Finding them was my priority. If they were registered to vote, I wanted them to be able to vote; if they weren't, I wanted them to be able to fill out a form so that they could vote in future elections, albeit not this one. (Though personally, I'm a big fan of SDR.) 15/

What that looked like in practice was often making sure that I asked the Voter Info Desk (VID) to search using both of two last names (like Carreño *and* Quiñones, from the w3 piece) -- b/c chances were good that one of those was listed as the last name in the system. 16/

...but chances were pretty decent, if their name hadn't shown up at the desk computers, that their name was in the system in some slightly odd way -- like treating Carreño as a middle name. Or in some cases, the system would have people's first/last names mixed up. 17/

And really, that's not surprising -- there's no safeguard in databases that checks and makes sure that someone hasn't accidentally entered a firstname in a lastname field or something, and human error is totally a thing, as is autocomplete if you registered online. 18/

Again, remember -- there's no universal standard here. And a lot of variation. I've certainly ended up in databases w/ my names reversed so that I get solicitations addressed to "Morgan Paige." Or I've ended up with MPOW listed as part of my address b/c it autofilled. 19/

I want to be really clear, w/ all the talk about voter fraud flying around: the operators at the VID and I were very careful to verify people completely. B/t their names, address, ID numbers, etc., it wasn't hard to do.

But as the day went on... 20/

... I began to realize that not only were the prospective voters a bit unaware of where the name databases might be failing them (through no one's fault, in particular), many of the VID workers were also unaware. No real surprise there; I think they were also volunteers. 21/

But it was important for me to realize, so that I could say "I need to look someone up, and I think the system might have them listed under one of their two surnames, and we need to check both, please," when I got through to the helpdesk. 22/

Or so that I could say "I need to look someone up, and we're having trouble finding their name; can we start with their ID# and their DOB?" And then verify from there.

Every time, I was able to find the person. Even if it turned out they weren't registered & couldn't vote. 23/

And while this sort of problem was most likely to affect people whose names the database couldn't capture adequately, & yes, that was frequently folks from Spanish-speaking background, it could happen to anyone whose name wasn't simply Firstname Lastname. 24/

I'd like to say "here, this is how we fix this." But it's not that easy, given old, varied systems, etc. -- & frankly, what we need is to be able to accommodate more than just "firstname lastname" formats.

What I think we *can* do is help people learn to be prepared. 25/

By people, I mean both folks who are voting, and folks who are volunteering at the polls, or at info desks, etc. -- b/c I encountered plenty of people who were ready to assume that folks weren't in the system b/c they didn't have this sort of knowledge. 26/

Because, as @keribrary notes in a reply to this thread, "databases fail us all the time." That shouldn't be a failure that devolves to removing someone's constitutional right to vote. 27/

That might look like teaching people to say "oh, you know, sometimes systems list my last name as Quiñones rather than Carreño Quiñones -- can you try searching for that?" B/c in several cases, that solved the issue for folks at the polling place. 28/

Or it might involve saying not just "check your voter registration," but "check how your name is listed." Or making sure that VID volunteers are trained to say "can we try searching w/ their DL ID# since their name isn't coming up?" 29/

Anyways: people deserve better, & our default systems are often inadequate to their needs. And when this effects their ability to vote, that's serious, high-stakes stuff. But we *can* do better. 30/

Anyways: if you have this basic level of data literacy, in future elections, it's likely that polling places could use your help. And if your jurisdiction votes in person but doesn't have a help desk, maybe ask them whether that's a practice they could start? FIN 31/31

And, since it is practically tradition for me to think of something after I've ended a thread, here's an excellent piece on the names as data problem; hat tip to @yvonnezlam for linking to it. https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/

And I guess I want to note, too, how easy it was to be kind to people when this happened; in part b/c I knew that it was highly unlikely that they were at fault. & how much people needed that kindness, and how much I think they were entitled to it. These errors: not their fault.

I want EVERYONE to get that kindness. I want it to be as expected and dependable as anything can be.