William Watts: Flags are supposed to be at polling locations, but aren’t

It’s a pitiful effort Lee Lundrigan, our Stanislaus County registrar of voters, makes to have flags and signs at the polling places. Election code requires an American flag to adequately assist the voter in identifying a polling place. When I spoke to election officials at our poll, they said flags were not provided. The roadside signs that are used are very small maybe 1 1/2 by 2 feet . The sign has a picture of a flag about 4 by 6 inches. That’s it, nearly invisible when driving by. The sign at my poll was 300 feet from the polling place entrance.

In the November election some voting will take place after dark. These signs are invisible at night, and they are never lighted. This is Lundrigan’s standard procedure, and has been for many elections – and I’ve seen a lot of Stanislaus County elections. Lundrigan’s authority extends to ordering flags without going through a purchasing agent, so don’t listen to the “it’s not in the budget” excuse. A tiny picture of flag is not a flag.

An impartial registrar of voters would surely not try to affect the turn out, would she?

This story was originally published June 13, 2016 at 1:07 PM with the headline "William Watts: Flags are supposed to be at polling locations, but aren’t."