For more years than I can remember now I've been a sworn-in poll worker for the Hunterdon County Board of Elections, one of those folks who signs you in and points you to the proper voting machine, maybe helps you out if you have trouble with it. We happy few, we band of sisters and occasional brothers.
It's something of an ordeal. We must show up at the firehouse at five fifteen on Tuesday morning, set the machines up, and lay out the paperwork to be ready for the first voter by six o'clock, when the polls open. With a short break for lunch we must remain at our stations until after eight that evening, when the polls close and we shut down the machines and pack up the election results to be sent to the county.
But it's something of a treat as well. The pay is generous for this sort of thing, way more than I'd get for serving on a jury. Best of all I get to see people I don't run into from one year to the next, sometimes noting with pleasure that they seem healthier and more prosperous than they did the year before, sometimes hearing what their children are doing, sometimes helping their now grown-up children to cast their first ballots. Now and then people who were perfectly fine the year before appear in wheelchairs, or showing signs of dementia, or so blind that they require help in the booth. Still they drag themselves to the firehouse to vote.
Making it possible for people to vote, making it as easy and pleasant as we can for them to vote, is regarded by the poll-workers as a sacred duty necessary to the support of democracy. I'm serious about that. We are all serious about that. Not all of the voters are as clear about what they're doing there as we are.
On Tuesday, as you surely know, the hotly-contested mid-term elections will be taking place. The outcome is important to the future of the country, to your future. We all know the clowns are running the circus. They are your clowns. You have three more days to read your sample ballot, research the issues and find out where your candidates stand. If you haven't done this by Tuesday, don't show up at the polls the way you'd go to brush your teeth, because it's good for you, or it's an annual ritual, or it's your civic duty. Stay home. Let the people who know better than you do run your life.
© 2014 Kate Gallison
More of us need to know how much you poll workers do for the few minutes we need to cast our votes! And, I hope after it is all over and the machines are tucked away, etc., you have a big pitcher of Sheila's Broken Heart! tjstraw
ReplyDeleteSounds like a plan, Thelma. Maybe not a huge pitcher.
ReplyDeleteI take voting very seriously and my polling place is now in easy walking distance even for me. And speaking of drinking. . .I remember once promising a friend of mine that we would have martinis at a fancy French restaurant after we voted. When we got to the bar, we were told we would not be served until 9 PM because it was Election Day. Are those laws still in place?
ReplyDeleteSteph
Wow, Steph! No service til 9 P.M.!!! Horrors! I'm lucky too, as my voting place is the 92 Y, only 1 block from my apt. building! tjs
ReplyDeleteIn New Jersey, I haven't heard of such a law. In New York State it used to be unlawful to sell drinks on election day, fifty years ago, when my first husband and I were in Lake George and desperate for a snort. Don't know if that law is still in effect or not. It used to be a common practice for one party or the other to buy voters drinks in exchange for their votes, but Carrie Nation or somebody put a stop to that.
ReplyDeleteKate, what do the kids in your neighborhood do tonight? Do they go around trick or treating? Things are so iffy in the US today, I'd really like to know. The kids in my building sign up to go to apartments... and it is very controlled... I don't think parents let kids out now. in Manhattan, at least around here. .. tjs
ReplyDeleteLambertville is famous as a center for hallowe'en frolics. On Union Street, a block from my house, the police close the street to traffic for five or six blocks and the kids roam up and down collecting treats and taking in the wild house decorations.Some come down the side streets. We gave away two and a half bags of little candy bars. Official trick or treat hours are from six to eight. The smallest kids come out early. The teenagers might show up at eight-fifteen. Parents dress up and go out with their children. This year the costumes were better than I ever remember seeing them. Absolutely no child under the age of fifteen goes out without an adult anymore.
ReplyDeleteThere are times in election season when I hear such jaw-dropping opinions being expressed -- not jaw-dropping in the sense that I radically disagree with them (hey, welcome to democracy) -- but outlandish proclamations of what will happen if I don’t vote their way. Opinions that do not seem to have ever been troubled by logic. At these times, I have a moment of sympathy for those who fought hard against giving citizens the vote at all. Brief. But a moment.
ReplyDeleteThis year, probably because I once got on Emily's list... thence on dozens of womens' lists I never heard of even - I got not only tons of emails but a bunch of US mail! From the amt of gimmes they must think I'm made from the gold at Fort Knox! But the plus side is that they are out there and more active than I've ever known!!!!!. I somehow feel that this mess in DC shall also pass and the nation we all love will rise up and be the greatest nation on the planet again! tjs
ReplyDeleteSheila, great post. Love it - "They are your clowns." So true - so let's take responsibility and make sure they are the clowns we want to see running the circus and not the other side's!
ReplyDeleteAm I getting credit for Kate's terrific line? I think I am.
DeleteDon't care who gets credit for it if it inspires anybody to get to the polls and vote (having first thought long and hard about who to vote for).
ReplyDelete