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November 03, 2015 - 10:54 p.m.
"election inspector"

Hey Journal!

Well, today was my BIG DAY as an election inspector. I wanted to do this because I thought it would be an experience and wow...was I ever right! It was really really something, and I had a lot of fun doing it.

I didn't get a great night's sleep last night because I was worried about getting up on time and not really knowing how the day was going to go. My alarm went off at 4:20 this morning and I got up, got dressed, and packed my lunch, my snacks, and then I headed out at 4:48.

I arrived at the high school I was assigned to at 4:58 and I followed the line of elderly people heading inside with coolers and big tote bags! I walked into the gym and I was a little uncertain of what to do and where to go. Everyone else seemed to know exactly what they were supposed to be doing and I was just standing there holding my paper, not knowing which table to go to.

There was another guy there who said it was his first time and so we kinda stuck together until we figured out what was going on. Once we realized what table we were supposed to be at, everything started to fall into place.

The table I was assigned to had a total of six people working it. That was really excessive, so they transferred one person away to a table that was a little short. Dawn, who was the most experienced at our table, decided that it would be the older woman in our group who was also new. She moved to the table next to us, and we were left with Dawn, Lou, Mohammed, and this other woman whose name I don't know but I have nicknamed "the artist."

One of the coordinators, Diane, brought knitting stuff and was going at it all day long. Lots of people brought stuff to keep them busy... many people had books, magazines, and everyone was on their cell phones all day long! We had to charge them several times so everyone was plugged in at outlets all around the gym!

In the morning we had a little emergency at work and I was a little nervous. I wasn't allowed to leave all day long and at 7:00am I got a text that the power went out at work and the computer system completely crashed. Luckily, Dan was about to get ready for work early and leave early! He came by, picked up my keys for work, and stopped at the golf course before he went in to work! He went into the basement, opened the office, and then I called him from the bathroom and walked him through the steps to restart the system. It felt like that scene in Jurassic Park when John Hammond has to tell the guy how to turn the power back on.

Anyway, we got everything set up at our table and the polls opened promptly at 6:00am. The flow was very interesting.... it started out slowly and then got a little busier as it got closer to 9am. Then there was a lull for about an hour but picked back up around 10-12. There was a steady slow flow for a while and then at about 5:00 it picked back up again and only got busier for the rest of the night until about 8:00 when it started to die down.

There were 25 people working at the school and it was a LOT of people to have for the amount of voters that came in! Our table had five people working and we got a total of 127 voters. Over the course of the day we had 7 spoiled ballots.

There were two things that happened frequently.... One, people kept voting for the same person on multiple lines. When that happened, they could still cast their vote but their vote would count for the party that was higher up on the sheet. The machine would give them an error and they would have to press "cast" to make it go through. The second error was that in one race you were allowed to choose up to seven candidates. Many people voted for 9 since there were nine columns. When they put their ballots into the machine, it gave an error that that race would not count. They could cast their ballot anyway, just ignoring that race, or they could have it returned to them and it would be spoiled.

So, at our table there were four jobs. There was "the book," the "voter list," handing out the ballots, and manning the machine. Throughout the day, I did all of those things except the voter list but I was primarily handing out the ballots. So, for the majority of the day the person would come up to the table and Dawn would ask their name or their street. She would look them up in the book and have them sign on the line. I would give dawn the ballot number and she would write it into the book. The artist would copy their name from the book to the voter list and then I would rip the ballot out of the book and hand it to the person. Here was my speech: "Here's your ballot...In this race you can choose up to seven from here to here *point to columns 1-9*, just make sure you don't vote for the same person multiple times.... in the next column choose one, two, one, one, and two. *pointing to the respective column* Each one of the white booths at the back have a marker, just color in the circles and don't make any Xs or checks.... When you're done, just come back to machine #__!"

It was a pretty quick speech and most people listened to the whole thing. There were those ones that just started to walk away so I had to really wrap it up quickly and pick the most important piece of information to give to them before they were gone! My favorite was this rude guy who grabbed the ballot from me as I was just about to get to the part about the booths and the markers and then he got halfway back to the booth, turned around, came back, and asked where the markers were! Well, you should have just been patient!

Throughout the day we had 7 spoiled ballots and when that happened you had to take another sheet out of the book, write the new number next to their name, and then "spoil" the old one by writing spoil on it and putting it into a plastic ziploc bag in "the suitcase."

When people came in and told us what street they lived on, there was a very disproportionate amount of people from Dawns street. She lives right around the corner from the school and her street was extremely well represented! I kept telling her I couldn't believe how many there were...and she kept telling them all she was their neighbor.

The artist was from Nesconset and had done this before but not for four years because she had moved to Florida for a period of time. Her sister was also working today at a table on the other end of the gym.

Lou was wild. He was really nice, friendly, and a real personality. For the most part, he was in charge of the machine and watching the voters put their ballots in. He was a wanderer, though! If he was in the gym, he wasn't near the machine and every time someone from would district came over we would have to yell for him! He also went outside to get some fresh air several times and just disappeared for a while and was also upset that the school cafeteria was closed because he wanted to flirt with the cafeteria lady!

So, when Dawn was gone, I did the book AND handing out the ballots. Several times, when Lou was gone, I did the ballots and then ran over to the machine to assist the people putting them into the machine.

I didn't really take many breaks, and when I did they were pretty short. I ran to the bathroom maybe three or four times, I went outside to enjoy the BEAUTIFUL weather for about 5 minutes, and then I made a couple of phone calls which lasted about five minutes. The only other real break I took was at 6:00 when Dan came with Boston Market for me. We went outside and ate in front of the school.

In the morning I had to call Bank of America because there was "unusual activity" flagged on my credit card. It was an attempted purchase for 15.43 at "Blizzard" which is apparently an online gaming website. The charge was declined and my card was put on hold. I didn't make the charge and have no idea what it is but I'm surprised that it caused a red flag because I do make a lot of purchases online and I wonder what made them be suspicious about this particular one. Anyway, they issued me a new card and it's coming via UPS tomorrow! They were originally going to send it regular mail in 5-7 business days but I told them I needed it sooner!

Some other characters of the day were Dave (I think), and Ken who were sitting at the machines directly across from my table. Everyone was really nice, really friendly, and just fun to be with for the whole day. It's like a big team bonding exercise... I feel like I've been through something with all of them and that I would definitely say Hi to them if I saw them anywhere around town!

Dawn, Lou, and Ken told me about some crazy people from previous years and they recognized them instantly when they came in. One lady was a little snippy and when she couldn't get her ballot to go into the machine she got frustrated and ripped it away from the machine and started waving it around. She calmed down quickly, though, and was able to put it back in.

It was an absolutely beautiful day outside and it's just a shame that I was stuck inside all day. Of course, I would have been inside no matter what - if I was there or at work - so it really made no difference. It was up to 74 degrees out, the sky was blue, the sun was shining... I can only hope that our wedding day could be so nice!

Anyway, I had brought some soup for lunch but I forgot a spoon and the cafeteria was closed so I had no luck with that. Later, Dan brought me a spoon but my soup was cold by then. Oh well. I had three PB&J sandwiches throughout the day as well as pretzels, cookies, and my dinner that Dan brought.

Dawn's daughter stopped by at one point with her 6 week old daughter and once they arrived everyone was swooning over the baby! I was left to man the table by myself for a while but it was no problem!

Mohammed was another one at our table and he opened and closed the machine. Throughout the day he mostly played Bubble Island on his phone and I think I still have the music (which repeated over and over and over) stuck in my head! If I ever hear it again, it will bring me right back to today. He also showed me his photos from a trip he took to DisneyWorld. He was very excited about his pictures with Belle, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy!

Like I said, Lou was a real personality. He was just all over the place and talking about everything, everyone, and making jokes the whole time.

I had two memorable voters.... one was 25 years old and a math teacher. He said he had come to vote for the presidential primary. Unfortunately for him, there was no presidential primary today! Woops!

The other was this kid, who I think was 19 years old came in and I explained his ballot and he looked completely puzzled. He was very polite but seemed like he might have had some sort of spectrum issue. I explained it again, and then he went back to the booth. He came back about 10 minutes later with nothing filled out on the ballot and asked me to explain it again. I did, and then he came back ONE LAST TIME to ask what a "counsilman" was. I didn't know exactly how to explain it... so I said that it was someone who represents you... but then he clarified... he wanted to know if it was state, or federal... I looked at the names on the ballot and realized it was the town council! Once I told him that, he was good to go. He went back, finished filling out his form, and then he came and put it into the machine and had no errors.

Dawn's husband came by around dinner time and he was very nice. He's a kitchen/bath remodeler and I got his number so Dan and I can see about getting our Kitchen redone! Yea, we're BFFs now....

At about 6:30 we had the most eventful occurrence of the whole day. Thankfully it didn't happen at my table but it did happen right next to us so I was able to hear and see the whole thing. This crazy woman came in and her name was not in the book. She swore that she lived in the district and provided her address, but still, she was not in the book. Now, when that happens, a person can fill out an "affidavit ballot." It's the same exact ballot that anyone else would fill out but it's put into a special envelope and is counted back at the Board of Elections office once her address is verified and found to be legitimate. She was having NONE of it. She was screaming at them and telling them to put her name into the book immediately.

She said, over and over again, that her neighbor, who is a criminal, did something to have her name removed from the list and now she can't get it back on. She's been voting here since 1977 and for the last for years she hasn't been able to get her name put back on the list.

I sincerely think that she hasn't REALLY done what she was supposed to do. Here's why... I moved only a year ago and Dan and I were able to get registered in our new district with no trouble at all. If she would just fill out a voter registration form, she would get registered at her address. I think she just comes to vote each time and makes a stink and never actually follows through, thinking something is going to change each year.

She was screaming that she was going to call the police and, more specifically the "criminal division." She said that her constitutional rights to vote were being denied, and that she wanted to vote "the real way" and not with a "phoney ballot!" Perhaps the most convincing argument she had was that the President was aware of this.... that she had told him, and would call him to report that they weren't letting her vote.

The coordinator came over to help and she was an absolute bitch to him. She was yelling at him and demanding that her name be added to the book. (Again, not possible.) He explained her options again, she could either vote with a normal ballot, but put it in the affidavit bag, or she would have to go to a court and get a court order saying she could vote on a machine. She demanded directions to the court. She also told him that he had a smirk on his face and that he had better wipe it off. He was so polite to her though the whole thing- she kept telling him "it's still there. It's still there. It's still there." She said she recommends he change his attitude and he said "i'll take that into consideration."

We all took bets on whether or not she would return and if so, how long it would take. Gina, the girl at the table where this happened, and I estimated that it would be around 8:30-8:45. Sure enough, at about 8:30, she came back through the doors with her court order. She explained her situation to the judge and, perhaps fearing retaliation from Obama himself, granted her request to vote on the machine.

She was still a total bitch. She was mean to everyone, wrote on a paper she wasn't supposed to even be touching, and then, while Gina was so politely explaining her ballot to her, she just makes a wild pen mark across it!

Before she left she had to fill out a registration form and Gina was helping her with it and just said "you know, we've all been trying our best to help you and do what we can for you and you've been nothing but rude to us." And then she just completely apologized for taking it out on them. It was very interesting.

She was also threatening them in the beginning about how she would call the President and they would all lose their jobs, and then she was telling them that they had better make sure her name is in the book next year.... as if these people do this as their career and have any control over it whatsoever. Hello, lady... we're all here for one day only. We do not in any way have any control over whose name gets in the book, and the next time we come back there will be an election day and you'll either be there or not! It was like she thought by telling them in person, those actual people would now be working on this so it would be corrected instead of actually filling out a registration form or contacting the board of elections!

Then, just like that, it was 9:00 and the polls were closed. We started to close out everything and check our numbers to make sure we had everything correct. One person mosied in to vote at 9:03 and, they had to leave. Too late.

We closed out the machines, signed everything, and then at about 9:15 I was ready to head home. What a day! I knew going in that it was going to be an experience but it's really weird... I left feeling like I was part of something cool. I know that's really cheesy but it's hard to explain. It's like we spent 16.5 hours together from the start to the finish of the election and everyone just has their own wild thing going on, but you all are in it together.

I really hope that if/when I do this again I get assigned to the same location. I would love to hang out with all of those people again. Everyone at the place was super-nice, but from looking around the room, other tables seemed more quiet and reserved. We had a real bunch of craziness going on at ours and I think that added to how wild and exciting it was.

It's definitely a long day and I knew I would have a lot to write in my journal but I never guessed it would be THIS much! It's nice to have something to write about besides getting up, going to work, coming home, watching TV, and going to bed!

I'm really glad I did it and I'd recommend it to anyone who was thinking about doing it but was on the fence. It's weird to say but it's one of the most interesting and different days I've had in a long time!

In it's own way, it was kinda like starting a new job (where you have to get up to speed with what is going on around you) and like working at the library -- where you had a job to do but there was this no-pressure, you're not in charge, just go with the flow kinda attitude.

When I got home, I told Dan all about my day and then I took a quick shower. It was about 10:00 when I was done and we started to watch Homeland. We had watched half of it yesterday so we just wanted to finish it off. It was good, but the last few minutes were the best and now we have to wait till next week to see what happens!

Now it's time for bed... back to work and I really need my sleep!

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)