I'm serving today as a pollworker, and I'll give you highlights and recap when I get home. Cheers.
Edited at 9:56 PM on Election Day
I consider myself richly blessed for having the experience to see firsthand how polling places work in Clark County. IN many ways, I really enjoyed it, and I only regret a few things that happened along the day. Were this something of which I wished to make a regular habit, I know what I would do differently or better to change the experience for the better, but by all accounts, it exceeded my expectations.
People fed me war stories and warnings that made me apprehensive about my experience. Even as I shut off the car, I wondered if I'd made a mistake. I was grateful to be largely ignorant of the media recycling the same 5 minutes of news for hours on end, but it was a mix of boring and excitement.
A few brief snippits from the day:
I worked in Fire Station #83. The firemen tolerated us, but they kept no secret that they wished we weren't in their station. Not that it really mattered. They spent much of the day out on calls.
Early voting
Some people complained about their early voting experience, about how long the lines were, and said more money should be spent accommodating more people. The Constitution is very clear about this: election day is the first Tuesday in November, not that and "two weeks prior as states may deem fit". If you can't stand in line to vote, in the cold, in the wind, in the rain, while you're hungry, etc., then maybe you don't deserve to vote.
Partial observers
We cycled through about six different observers at our polling place, apparently mostly lawyers for the various parties looking for irregularities and vouchsafing that proper procedure prevailed. They told us before they left that we had been one of the best, most efficient, and most professional groups they'd ever seen and congratulated us, and it was then for the first time that I noticed the male who spoke on their behalf wore a shirt touting Obama/Biden. Lawyers breaking the law? For shame.
A great team
Our asst. team leader told us that, in his entire 30+ year career, he'd never worked with a better team. We worked together fairly well, and aside from one person, I liked or at least tolerated everyone there.
An idealistic idealogue
That one person I couldn't really tolerate was a 16-year-old adolescent who told off color jokes, mistreated the equipment, slept on occasion, and tried to boss me around. He got on my nerves, and I told him the best part of the end of day was that I never had to see him again.
Woeful ignorance
I saw dozens of young, starry-eyed idealists voting in their very first elections. Most of them wanted to just vote for president, which I can only assume was Obama. They wanted to be part of something historical, but it will be historical in things they never imagined.
Cooperation as a team
I haven't seen a team of random and nonassociated people work together that well. We were like a well-oiled machine, and it was really cool in that way. If only the day had not been that long...
Varied work ethic
Some people didn't work as hard however. Yes, it may get tiring repeating the same spiel hundreds of times, but it seemed to me that, as usual, more work fell to me because I was capable of it.
Timely interruption (clouds)
Just as the sun reached a bad angle, I mentioned to Walter who was standing by the door that it would be nice if some clouds rolled in to block the sun. Not too long after that, he yelled over to me. I had my wish. Cloudcover. Only a few voters had to put up with a bad sun angle.
Last minute arrivals
I can't believe how many people showed up in the last little bit. We were almost as busy at the end as at the beginning. Although there were no absolute last minute voters, two people left the polling place after the polls were closed. Nothing like prioritizing your right to vote...
Turnout
It was a good thing I guess that we had so much early voting. Better than 95% of registered voters in the precinct voted, but 1200 of them voted early. As such, we didn't have bad lines, lost voters, or myriad of mistakes, but I stick by my Constitutional provisions. Besides, it would have ensured a busier day and fewer naps for Charles.
Edited at 9:56 PM on Election Day
I consider myself richly blessed for having the experience to see firsthand how polling places work in Clark County. IN many ways, I really enjoyed it, and I only regret a few things that happened along the day. Were this something of which I wished to make a regular habit, I know what I would do differently or better to change the experience for the better, but by all accounts, it exceeded my expectations.
People fed me war stories and warnings that made me apprehensive about my experience. Even as I shut off the car, I wondered if I'd made a mistake. I was grateful to be largely ignorant of the media recycling the same 5 minutes of news for hours on end, but it was a mix of boring and excitement.
A few brief snippits from the day:
I worked in Fire Station #83. The firemen tolerated us, but they kept no secret that they wished we weren't in their station. Not that it really mattered. They spent much of the day out on calls.
Early voting
Some people complained about their early voting experience, about how long the lines were, and said more money should be spent accommodating more people. The Constitution is very clear about this: election day is the first Tuesday in November, not that and "two weeks prior as states may deem fit". If you can't stand in line to vote, in the cold, in the wind, in the rain, while you're hungry, etc., then maybe you don't deserve to vote.
Partial observers
We cycled through about six different observers at our polling place, apparently mostly lawyers for the various parties looking for irregularities and vouchsafing that proper procedure prevailed. They told us before they left that we had been one of the best, most efficient, and most professional groups they'd ever seen and congratulated us, and it was then for the first time that I noticed the male who spoke on their behalf wore a shirt touting Obama/Biden. Lawyers breaking the law? For shame.
A great team
Our asst. team leader told us that, in his entire 30+ year career, he'd never worked with a better team. We worked together fairly well, and aside from one person, I liked or at least tolerated everyone there.
An idealistic idealogue
That one person I couldn't really tolerate was a 16-year-old adolescent who told off color jokes, mistreated the equipment, slept on occasion, and tried to boss me around. He got on my nerves, and I told him the best part of the end of day was that I never had to see him again.
Woeful ignorance
I saw dozens of young, starry-eyed idealists voting in their very first elections. Most of them wanted to just vote for president, which I can only assume was Obama. They wanted to be part of something historical, but it will be historical in things they never imagined.
Cooperation as a team
I haven't seen a team of random and nonassociated people work together that well. We were like a well-oiled machine, and it was really cool in that way. If only the day had not been that long...
Varied work ethic
Some people didn't work as hard however. Yes, it may get tiring repeating the same spiel hundreds of times, but it seemed to me that, as usual, more work fell to me because I was capable of it.
Timely interruption (clouds)
Just as the sun reached a bad angle, I mentioned to Walter who was standing by the door that it would be nice if some clouds rolled in to block the sun. Not too long after that, he yelled over to me. I had my wish. Cloudcover. Only a few voters had to put up with a bad sun angle.
Last minute arrivals
I can't believe how many people showed up in the last little bit. We were almost as busy at the end as at the beginning. Although there were no absolute last minute voters, two people left the polling place after the polls were closed. Nothing like prioritizing your right to vote...
Turnout
It was a good thing I guess that we had so much early voting. Better than 95% of registered voters in the precinct voted, but 1200 of them voted early. As such, we didn't have bad lines, lost voters, or myriad of mistakes, but I stick by my Constitutional provisions. Besides, it would have ensured a busier day and fewer naps for Charles.
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