mouse_rants (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mouse_rants) wrote2006-06-06 10:42 pm
mouse_rants) wrote2006-06-06 10:42 pm
Entry tags:
Memoirs of a Poll Worker
If this gets incoherent and then stops, it's probably because I fell asleep over the keyboard. So guess I should start with a summary of the day: long but good.
Definitely long. I had to be at the poll by 6 am, which meant I got up at 5 am. This is the earliest I have been up since I've had the kittens, and they didn't know quite what to make of it. It was pretty funny, actually. I wanted them to stay in, since I would be gone all day. Usually, Angelina is poised by the door whenever I first open it - which, this morning, was to leave. I petted her goodbye, opened the door, checked to see where she was...and she was already halfway down the hall, headed back to bed. So it seems there are some things that take precedence over 'out'.
I was working in a small precinct which shared a polling place (at an elementary school) with a larger one - they had about twice as many voters registered as we did. This provided us with entertainment , as we "competed" for each voter as they came in. Most of the voters were initially confused, when faced with two groups of poll workers. We were generally first to assist them to determine which precinct they should be voting in...which was generally the other precinct.
It was all in all a very pleasant experience. The precinct inspector I was working with had done poll work before (although not for a couple of years) - the other three of us had not. I think the other team had about the same level of experience. So we all helped each other out. In addition to having two precincts, we had 11 different ballots (and that was only in English) - since this was a primary election. In California, voters registered as non-partisan can vote in the primaries of some party. So non-partisans were faced with a choice of ballots - NP (Democratic), NP (Republican), NP (American Independant) and NP-Nonpartisans (those wishing nothing to do with any party at all). Although this is explained in the sample ballot, some NP voters were considerably confused. One young man, faced with this choice, responded with a look of such utter shock and confusion, I'm afraid we all broke out laughing - you could see him thinking "I signed up NP so I wouldn't _have_ to make these choices!". We had only two somewhat crazy people - both managable (both, alas, Democrats). Everyone else was very nice.
I really love voting in a polling place. I heard on the radio the other day that California may go to all mail-in (they were predicting 42% absentee balloting this election) - but I think that would be really sad. It makes me feel so .... well, American - to be in some civic place, with all manner of my neighbors turning out to do their civic duty. I always remember all the other places I have voted - schools and churches and people's garages. There was a bake sale at the school today (I got some American flag sugar cookies for us) - do other places raise money by providing the public with cookies? Some of the school kids came in to see what we were doing, and were so genuinely curious and polite and so happy when we gave them "I Voted" stickers - it was really delightful. We also gave stickers to children who came in with their parents - there were a fair number of those. I was interested in how many couples came in together to vote....I guess it makes sense - but I have always voted on my way to work, so I was interested to see how many people kept it to do together.
Only downside to the day is that my congressional candidate is trailing - after being tied in the polls. Today's election is only for a fill-in candidate - whoever wins will have to run again in November for the full two-year term. But there has been a lot of national interest in this seat - it's the first chance to replace a Republican with a Democrat - and I am afraid if she loses today, she won't have a chance come November - and worse, it might make it harder for other Democrats to win tight races. The only hope is, a _lot_ of people are voting absentee. One third of the ballots we turned in were absentee ballots that people had dropped off - although these were not necessarily for the precinct I was working at. Actually voting turnout in my precinct was only 25%...which is not good, probably. It was a heavily Republican precinct - I don't have any sense of whether there was any difference in Republican and Democratic turnout. And, again, a small precinct. The main point is, with so many absentee ballots still coming in on election day, it will take a while to get the final count. So I'll try to stay positive.
OK, I should have charming/funny/whatever stories, but right now my brain is just barely ticking over. So I'll try again tomorrow - assuming I ever wake up.
Definitely long. I had to be at the poll by 6 am, which meant I got up at 5 am. This is the earliest I have been up since I've had the kittens, and they didn't know quite what to make of it. It was pretty funny, actually. I wanted them to stay in, since I would be gone all day. Usually, Angelina is poised by the door whenever I first open it - which, this morning, was to leave. I petted her goodbye, opened the door, checked to see where she was...and she was already halfway down the hall, headed back to bed. So it seems there are some things that take precedence over 'out'.
I was working in a small precinct which shared a polling place (at an elementary school) with a larger one - they had about twice as many voters registered as we did. This provided us with entertainment , as we "competed" for each voter as they came in. Most of the voters were initially confused, when faced with two groups of poll workers. We were generally first to assist them to determine which precinct they should be voting in...which was generally the other precinct.
It was all in all a very pleasant experience. The precinct inspector I was working with had done poll work before (although not for a couple of years) - the other three of us had not. I think the other team had about the same level of experience. So we all helped each other out. In addition to having two precincts, we had 11 different ballots (and that was only in English) - since this was a primary election. In California, voters registered as non-partisan can vote in the primaries of some party. So non-partisans were faced with a choice of ballots - NP (Democratic), NP (Republican), NP (American Independant) and NP-Nonpartisans (those wishing nothing to do with any party at all). Although this is explained in the sample ballot, some NP voters were considerably confused. One young man, faced with this choice, responded with a look of such utter shock and confusion, I'm afraid we all broke out laughing - you could see him thinking "I signed up NP so I wouldn't _have_ to make these choices!". We had only two somewhat crazy people - both managable (both, alas, Democrats). Everyone else was very nice.
I really love voting in a polling place. I heard on the radio the other day that California may go to all mail-in (they were predicting 42% absentee balloting this election) - but I think that would be really sad. It makes me feel so .... well, American - to be in some civic place, with all manner of my neighbors turning out to do their civic duty. I always remember all the other places I have voted - schools and churches and people's garages. There was a bake sale at the school today (I got some American flag sugar cookies for us) - do other places raise money by providing the public with cookies? Some of the school kids came in to see what we were doing, and were so genuinely curious and polite and so happy when we gave them "I Voted" stickers - it was really delightful. We also gave stickers to children who came in with their parents - there were a fair number of those. I was interested in how many couples came in together to vote....I guess it makes sense - but I have always voted on my way to work, so I was interested to see how many people kept it to do together.
Only downside to the day is that my congressional candidate is trailing - after being tied in the polls. Today's election is only for a fill-in candidate - whoever wins will have to run again in November for the full two-year term. But there has been a lot of national interest in this seat - it's the first chance to replace a Republican with a Democrat - and I am afraid if she loses today, she won't have a chance come November - and worse, it might make it harder for other Democrats to win tight races. The only hope is, a _lot_ of people are voting absentee. One third of the ballots we turned in were absentee ballots that people had dropped off - although these were not necessarily for the precinct I was working at. Actually voting turnout in my precinct was only 25%...which is not good, probably. It was a heavily Republican precinct - I don't have any sense of whether there was any difference in Republican and Democratic turnout. And, again, a small precinct. The main point is, with so many absentee ballots still coming in on election day, it will take a while to get the final count. So I'll try to stay positive.
OK, I should have charming/funny/whatever stories, but right now my brain is just barely ticking over. So I'll try again tomorrow - assuming I ever wake up.