Voting—It’s More Complicated than You Think

This is the first of a two-part blogpost. More to come on Wednesday.

Election Day is tomorrow, and I’m going to be doing my part. No, not that election! This one is more mundane. It involves people running for county commission, mayor and town council, and school board. Of course, the results will not be mundane for those running for those positions. And it won’t be mundane for me either.

I'm going to be up front on the back lines.

I'm going to be right up front on the back lines in the voting process. If someone is voting at the Glen Rock Municipal Building, he or she is going to have to go through me to cast their ballot. I’ll be at the table with the voting roster book checking them in or standing beside the voting booth accepting voting authority slips so they can enter the booth. And there are more responsibilities. Even before the polls open, I’ll be helping to set up the room and the voting booths. I’ll be using a yellow key and a silver key (I hope I’ll remember which to use for what), running off a Zero Tally Strip, and inspecting the Provisional Ballot bag.

If all of this sounds complicated, it might be. You see, this is my first time serving as a poll worker. Luckily, I’m not going at this totally blind. I attended a two-hour training session last week, where I was not only given hands on instruction but even took home a 13-section reference guide for easy, um, reference. And I’m assured that I will be teamed with more experienced poll workers tomorrow who already know the ropes. That’s reassuring for me and for the voters who want to be sure that their votes are entered and tallied properly.

Keeping the system unrigged"

What impressed me most at my training session was the complexity of the process for preparing the polling place and the serious way that those involved in the back lines of the voting process (like me) take their duties. When all you do is vote, you are not aware of the “magic” involved. It gives one increased faith in the voting system at a time when the day-to-day political news drives us toward cynicism. And makes the concept of a “rigged system” —at least at my polling place—not even a remote concern.

We even got into some minutiae about the process. For example, if a voter wants to bring a child into the booth with him or her, we are to explain that the child should be on the voter’s left. Why? Because the Cast Vote button is on the right and it lights up when the voter enters the booth. Brightly lit buttons often attract a child’s attention and cry out to be pressed. Once the button is pressed, the vote is complete and cannot be changed or replayed. The voter gets only one shot at the button. Is this what they mean by “one person, one vote”? For those of us on the back lines, it does.

This button isn't child-proof!

I was even taught that should a voter exit the booth without pressing the Cast Vote button and slip out of the room before he or she can be stopped, I can press the button myself to complete the voter’s balloting. Even more interesting is, if the voter leaves before marking any selections in the booth, I can let the next person in line step right in and use the unblemished ballot. It’s a lot of power to contemplate.

But all of the rules and regulations are not my biggest concern as Election Day approaches. I’m more worried about arriving on time—between 5:15 and 5:30 tomorrow morning because the polls open at 6—and staying awake until my responsibilities end sometime after 8 p.m.  To emphasize this point, the Election Commissioner passed around a newspaper clipping at the training session. It included a photo of an election worker snoozing on the job. “Don’t let this be you!” he warned ominously. I wondered if he knows about my habit of drifting off in the afternoon in a chair or in front of the computer.

No nap for me!!!

But not tomorrow. I’m going to be alert and cheerful (but not too cheerful), and I’m going to make the voting process work like a well-oiled machine. And if the machine doesn’t work for some reason, my reference guide includes three different numbers I can call for quick service. I think I’m ready.