After a 14-hour day working the polls on election day, Tuesday, Nov. 7, I am finally recovering.
This year’s experience as a poll worker was much less intense than last year’s election. I first worked as a “Same Day Registration” and “Sample Ballot” clerk for two weeks beginning Oct. 21 through Nov. 4. On election day, I did the same thing and was also the “Machine Judge” for the polling place. And no, I don’t judge machines in that position. The job involves taking any absentee, spoiled or provisional ballots, along with the voting machine data card and printed tabulation report, to the election headquarters immediately after the polls close.
With only local candidates for municipal offices and school board positions, along with several bond issues, there was much less on the ballot compared to the general election last year.
Last year, we had poll watchers peering over our shoulders the entire time. This year, because none of the candidates or other ballot issues were tied to major political parties, we had no observers.
As I concluded last year, it would be virtually impossible for anyone to stuff the ballot boxes or change the outcome of the election in our County. There are seemingly endless protocols and security measures in place to block any attempt to fiddle with the results. I’m even more convinced of the purity of the process after this year’s election.
Yet, I’m sure when next year’s general election rolls around, there will be those who again raise the issue of manipulated results. I’d be glad to talk to anyone about what I know and have seen, not what I might be able to read on misleading social media sites.
I feel good about my experiences in helping the democratic process and I’ll probably volunteer to work the election again a year from now. And please exercise your right to vote and work toward what you think is important through a process that has served us well for almost 250 years.
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