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The Election
Nov. 2nd, 2004 10:45 pmWell, it's almost 11 PM on 11/2/04, and it's not looking good for Kerry...but I want to tell about the observations I had today. I've been voting for 30 years, but today for the first time I was an election judge--I joined the ranks of the ususally elderly-looking citizens who sit behind a table with a bunch of forms and ask for your name and address before giving you your ballot. (I was the young whippersnapper.)
I originally decided to do this to earn $150 for attending a training session and working for election day. My first eye-opener was the training session, as I learned what it is those judges are there for. At the time a person goes in to vote, those judges have the ultimate authority as to whether the voter will actually be allowed to vote. I'd never really thought about that before. But the mindset of the judges ultimately affects who is permitted to have a ballot right then and there. And we have rules and regulations to follow, but there is always the gray area of interpreting rules and deciding on cases that don't fit the outlines. The other judges and I had a few cases, mostly involving people who had moved, where we had to decide if they could vote in this precinct or whether we had to send them somewhere else or give them a 'provisional' voting ballot that won't be counted for 2 weeks.
There are flaws in the system, but what I saw in my little corner of the political system, was that it's actually pretty awesome, our system of letting citizens have their say. I kept thinking of the recent elections in Afghanistan, and how primitive the voting system must be there, and yet the concept of voting, of letting the average person decide, is really amazing.
I don't know if I'm communicating this very well, I am very tired--I had be be at the polling place at 5:15 AM and worked without a break until 8 PM and now I'm kind of punchy, but I just want to leave one more thought.
The most impressive site were the voters who were either obviously immigrants who had become citizens or brand new voters and in some cases both. One tiny older Eastern European woman actually gave a little skip when her ballot went into the machine to be counted. I guess what I saw was their appreciation for the right which too many Americans don't bother to exercise.
It was really a cool day being an election judge and I will do it again.
I originally decided to do this to earn $150 for attending a training session and working for election day. My first eye-opener was the training session, as I learned what it is those judges are there for. At the time a person goes in to vote, those judges have the ultimate authority as to whether the voter will actually be allowed to vote. I'd never really thought about that before. But the mindset of the judges ultimately affects who is permitted to have a ballot right then and there. And we have rules and regulations to follow, but there is always the gray area of interpreting rules and deciding on cases that don't fit the outlines. The other judges and I had a few cases, mostly involving people who had moved, where we had to decide if they could vote in this precinct or whether we had to send them somewhere else or give them a 'provisional' voting ballot that won't be counted for 2 weeks.
There are flaws in the system, but what I saw in my little corner of the political system, was that it's actually pretty awesome, our system of letting citizens have their say. I kept thinking of the recent elections in Afghanistan, and how primitive the voting system must be there, and yet the concept of voting, of letting the average person decide, is really amazing.
I don't know if I'm communicating this very well, I am very tired--I had be be at the polling place at 5:15 AM and worked without a break until 8 PM and now I'm kind of punchy, but I just want to leave one more thought.
The most impressive site were the voters who were either obviously immigrants who had become citizens or brand new voters and in some cases both. One tiny older Eastern European woman actually gave a little skip when her ballot went into the machine to be counted. I guess what I saw was their appreciation for the right which too many Americans don't bother to exercise.
It was really a cool day being an election judge and I will do it again.
