Tomorrow (actually today since it is so late), I will be a poll watcher at one of our local precincts along with two other Democrats and an officially designated Democratic attorney. In Florida, each campaign (local and national) and party can each designate a poll watcher for each precinct.

In the past years, we have never had enough people to just cover each precinct with even one watcher throughout the county.

This year each precinct has at least three poll watchers and a designated attorney as well as attorneys at large. The Election officials know this because they have to certify the Poll Watchers and Attorneys.

I can assure you that the polls in Florida will be covered. Can the electronic machines still be a problem? Yes; but many if not most Florida counties have switched to an optical scan ballot insuring there are records available for recounts.

As poll watchers we will be entitled to watch the opening certifications of all the voting machines and at close of voting; we will follow the closing procedures as well as personally observe the transfer of ballots to the counting room at the elections office. There will be bi-partison participation for official observers in the elections office counting areas.

The party has trained each poll watcher and we know what to look for both inside and outside the polling locations. The attorneys are ready to immediately confront elections officials and if necessary file immediate orders with local judges.

Florida will be covered thanks to the organization of the Obama campaign. We will put out sparks before they can become fires. We are ready for this election like no other in my memory.

For those of you worried about Florida, be assured that we are watching and will be doing everything that can be done to assure an open and fair election.

Our local Supervisor of Elections is an elected Republican. She is an outstanding person and completely open about insuring fair elections. She has gone out of her way to insure that all registrations problems were resolved and has been open with both parties to solicit help in resolving individual registration issues.

There may be problems in other areas of Florida but we have the people needed right on the scene to keep things straight.

Other than long lines, I don't foresee any issues. We will also be watching for unfair allocations of machines that may be contributing to lines and have the attorneys primed to fix those situations.

Florida crosses two time zones. Polling closes at 7pm eastern so the western part of the panhandle in the central time zone will not close until 8pm eastern. Anyone in line at closing time gets to vote. Poll watchers have been alerted to the correct procedures for ensuring that everyone in line gets to vote.

The Obama campaign has Florida ready.

I will be working the poll tomorrow(today- 1:30am) and I hope many of you other TPM'ers will be out there as well. GOTV