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April 19, 2016 - 10:20 p.m.
"primary election inspection"

Hey Journal!

Wow! Today was my second day doing election inspection and it was AMAZING. I didn't think it could be better than the first day...but it was. It absolutely was! I got up at 4:30am and got out of bed to get ready. I brushed my teeth, put in my contacts, and then headed off to the High School to which I was assigned!

I arrived at 5am sharp and I went inside to get started. It was such a different feeling than last time. Last time I went in and had no idea where to go or what to do. This time I waltzed right in, opened the suitcase and started getting things GOING. I set up the table, got everything in place, and just banged it out!

We had a lot of time to kill before the polls opened at 6:00 since we got everything set up so fast. When I first saw Dawn, she was so excited to see me. I'm not exaggerating. She said she as hoping that I would be in her district again and that she was so glad to see me! I told her I was happy to be back and that I loved our group from last time.

Lou was back, too! He was the same Lou as last time, and the phrase of the day was "Where's Lou!?"

We had two replacements at our table today. First, we had Joan who apparently has been working this district for a long time but took off the last time because her husband passed away. We also had Marcel who was new to the game. This was his first time.

I have to say, our table was the best of all of them. We were the most efficient AND we were the most fun.

The voting started out slowly, picked up a little before work, again at lunch time, and then again around 6:00pm. We did have a steady stream for most of the day and it seemed like the day moved quicker than last time for some reason.

Another big difference today was that school was in session. The kids came in around 7:30 and we saw them traversing the halls in between periods. At one point, a Social Studies teacher asked if he could bring his class in to show them the voting process. He did and they took a little tour!

It also meant we could get LUNCH at the cafeteria. I waited until about 20 minutes after the bell rang to head down there because I wanted to let the kids clear out!

I got a slice of pizza and it was $1.50! What a great deal. I should go here for lunch every day! :P But, lest you think that was the highlight of my day.... think again! When I went to pay for my pizza, the cafeteria lady asked me to put my student ID card into the slot! :) Yes, I was mistaken for a high school student. My life is complete.

For the most part, today, I was handing out the ballots and explaining how to fill them out and what to do once they were finished. I did a brief stint (probably about 15 minutes) at the machine and then about another 15 minutes writing names on the VPL. I really like my regular job.

Dan came by in the early morning before work and brought a treat of Dunkin' Donuts! Wahoo! All of the other people were excited by that!

I had packed several PB&J sandwiches which I ate throughout the day and I had water and juice.

We didn't have any irate voters and, much to my dismay, that insane woman from last time...the one who personally knows the President AND whose neighbor is trying to steal her property.. did not came in. We have decided that she was probably registered as an Independent and couldn't vote in the primary because she is, after all, an independent woman.

We DID have a lot of people who thought they were registered in a party and weren't. They were either not in any party or they were in a different party and either didn't realize it changed after the cutoff.

All day long we had people filling out Affidavit Ballots! We had thirteen, about evenly split between Democrat and Republican.

Later on in the day I went back to the cafeteria with Lou to get another slice of pizza. This time I also got a chocolate milk too. Lou decided he didn't want to go back right away so we ate our pizza in the cafeteria surrounded by the students! It was wild. I told him it's been at least 15 years since the last time I ate lunch in a school cafeteria!

The day went by pretty quickly and I was surprised that I felt less tired than last time at the end of the day-- especially since I couldn't sleep very well last night. I kept waking up every hour because of the anticipation!

In other news, Dawn sold her house and is going to be out by May. In the meantime, she's rented an apartment over near Target and is also going to be buying a place in Florida! Don't worry, though -- she'll still be doing the elections!

At about 8:30 I the flow started to taper off and I decided to get cracking on the closing procedures. I got all of the unused ballot booklets together and began to fill out the closing reconciliation form.

When 9:00 rolled around and the polls were officially closed, we got started on closing out the machine and packing everything up. We were really good and finished up much sooner than most of the tables! Joan asked me to walk her out to her car and we departed at 9:30!

I got home and Dan was at his parents' house watching the hockey game. I took a shower and got ready for bed and then when Dan got home I filled him in on the day's excitement.

One thing that I really like about this thing is that you get together with a bunch of random people from the town that you otherwise wouldn't know and you see them each election -- it's like a little reunion, and everyone loves to talk about what's going on in the town! It's wild.

I also left with all the feels. I had two real sensations. First, I feel like I would love to work in a government job. Similar to the library. Of course, finding a job that paid enough in that area would be very challenging. I just love the atmosphere and the way it runs and the way people interact. It's so much different than anything retail or corporate.

Second feel, I would LOVE to work with High School/College aged kids. I think this is kinda the thing Lau likes most about her job.... dealing with people are young, not fully established yet, and you still have a chance to make a big impact on their lives.

Anyway, those two will most likely not happen, and I probably won't even remember I felt this way a few weeks from now but it's worth noting that I think sometimes I wonder what it would be like.

Now it's time for bed. It's an understatement to say that it's been a long day, and the most disturbing part is that I have to get up tomorrow at 8:00am for work! Yikes! Just happy I had a fun day. It's really nice to get a break from your normal routine every now and then and do something completely different to give you a new perspective!

Until tomorrow...

Goodnight. :)