In their home neighborhood of Bernal Heights, Jessica Lipnack, 79, and Peter Wiley, 83, put their training as poll monitors to work. The organizer of the effort was the Asian Law Caucus, which aimed to ease tensions around the potential for immigration enforcement actions as voters headed to the polls.
“We’re observing whether there’s law enforcement anywhere near the polling place, or there’s anybody within distance who is campaigning for any political party,” said Wiley. “It’s pretty amazing the amount of stuff that San Francisco offers to people of all religions, colors, languages.”
Tensions have been high regarding elections in Latino communities out of fear that federal officials might show up at polling locations. While NPR reported that the threat seemed not to have been borne out, despite elevated threats and speculation. The most recent ICE sighting was late October, when a U.S. citizen was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Sixth Street in San Francisco.
Lipnack and Wiley said the training urged poll monitors to not interfere with law enforcement, but encouraged them to record from a distance and call the organization immediately. If detained, the group advises voters not to answer questions and to ask for representation from a lawyer.
Neither witnessed or encountered any difficulties walking to several polling stations across the Mission District and Bernal Heights. They noted that one Spanish speaker had to vote through a provisional ballot after not appearing in the polling location’s records. Poll workers gave the phone number for a phone help line in Spanish.
“I have never felt so much like I’m participating in the democratic process as I have today,” Lipnick said. “We were doing something that was helpful, and I don’t think I’ve ever felt more like a good American than I have today.”
