Reflections of a Poll Worker

It is the morning after voting day and I do not yet know the results. Since Monday night I have been in a bubble of voting “process” and not voting “results,” and I wanted to write this before I knew anything of the outcome. At this moment I feel the calm of knowing I did what I could do and wanted to linger in that before feeling any disappointment or joy in outcomes. This was my first time working the polls and it was totally exhausting, awe-inspiring, and eye-opening.

We started Monday night when we set everything up to be ready for voters. I was a machine judge, so one of my jobs was to be a second person to check tags and seals on the machines so that we could see they had not been tampered with. So many numbers, so many sheets to record those numbers, and I was interested to see the many physical ways our machines are protected. We set up tables and opened machines with multiple checks to be sure everything would be ready for the voters.  I was sore from the physical effort as we came home in the dark under the bright full moon. We only had a few hours to sleep before our alarm would ring at 4:30 am to go back. 

We awoke to the mysterious beauty of the eclipse and went outside for a few minutes of awe before collecting everything we thought we might need for the long day. As we drove to our polling place, the eclipse was nearly complete, and we arrived at 5:30a.

We were a diverse crew by regulation; each polling place is required to have a mix of parties. We were black and white, a range of ages though the vast majority of us was over 60 and at least one of us was over 80.  Despite political differences we worked well together to give everyone in our precincts the opportunity to cast their vote.

Things that inspired me:

·       So Many Voters  By 6:30 am people were lined outside the door, and we had lines of people all day—unheard of in this polling place. By 4:00 pm the lines were winding around the gym of the elementary school and out the door. We never got food or breaks after that it was so busy. We were short 4 workers.

·       First time voters  They were shyly proud, and glad for my help and encouragement. One woman, clearly much older than my 69 years, was voting for the first time. Her husband had always been the one who voted and when he died she decided to give it a try. There were lots of immigrants voting for the first time. They listened to my instructions carefully—they were serious and wanted to get it right. There were lots of young people, and some who were not quite old enough came with a friend or family to be ready for the next election.

·       Diversity  I have seen our part of town changing over the years but was so glad to see such diversity. When I looked out over the masses of people lined up, I saw everyone—young, old, Indian, Vietnamese, Latin, Mid-Eastern, Japanese, large, tiny, tattooed, dressed up, flipflopped.  I saw farmers and manual laborers, firemen, warehouse workers, security workers, lots of people in scrubs (thank you for your service) and teachers (thank you for your service!). I saw people I would be afraid to be alone in a room with, who surprised me with their joy and gratitude for helping them vote. I saw family groups gathered around a voting machine helping each other with the translations so that all could understand the ballot and cast their votes.

·       Physical Impairments I saw so many people with huge physical impairments showing up to vote. There were a number of people with broken legs, One woman, likely with cerebral palsy, took 10 minutes to walk across the large room to vote. She was slow, a little embarrassed, and also determined. Others were sick, yet insisted they had to get up and out to vote.  We brought chairs to people who could not stand long enough to vote, and one man even brought his own tiny folding chair.

·       Parents and Children  I loved seeing the parents who brought their children, as I did years ago, showing them the very basics of living in a democracy.

·       Gifts and Acknowledgement  People, aware of the political divisiveness that can make it difficult to be in public service jobs, thanked us over and over. They meant it and knew that we had taken on a hard job with almost no pay, to keep giving our democracy a chance to work. Some brought us food, one woman brought 4 individually wrapped CDs sharing something about liberty that was very meaningful to her. The 80-year-old who has been a poll worker for decades, said this had never happened before. Their acknowledgements and appreciation made a difference to me.

·       How much a simple few words could connect us  With that much going on, there was no time for any in-depth conversations and yet I experienced connection with a great many of the people I encountered. Sometimes we’d wait together for the next voting machine and they would share something personal about their lives. I met a woman who works for a company we used to have a contract with at Yoga on High and it felt like coming home. I tried to give each one my full attention and they mostly gave it back to me. 

·       Voting Stickers  One of my jobs was to help people feed their ballots into the counting machines and then to give them stickers. Most were delighted to receive them, and we could share a moment of joy together that they could go out and proclaimed they had done their civic duty.

We machine judges were all in major pain by mid-morning. We were standing and walking on hard floors as we escorted voters to the voting booths. We took turns standing and sitting down and even with my skills in caring for my body, I honestly wasn’t sure how I would make it through the whole day.  My new hero is the 80+ man who worked next to me all day and wasn’t sure at the end of the night if he would be able to get up the stairs to get to his bed that night. His joy all day was infectious and every person he encountered was the better for it. He kept saying, “I don’t care who they are voting for. I’m just so glad they came to do it.” We all concurred.

Over and over, I drew on the Equality Practice that I learned from Pema Chodron, and have been teaching often lately.  “Just like me, these people care about our country and want to contribute to our future.  Just like me, each one of these people has a dream for our future.  Just like me, we all want a chance to have our voices heard.” Every time I looked at someone and imagined that they were a different party or had a different vision that I do, I turned to this practice.  It was heart-saving for me all day and supported me to give equal attention to every single person I encountered regardless of who they might be voting for. And a few times people surprised me, and I realized that my assumptions were wrong. That too was a blessing that kept doing my job well.

As we got more tired later in the day, the crowds were much larger, and we all kept going. We had been there since 5:30 am and it was nearly closing time at 7:30 pm. When the polls close, it was our job to put everything back in place—so many more locks and seals and counting and recounting.  If you remember voting—you get a slip of paper at the roster desk that you then take to the person who takes you to the machine. We put those papers in envelopes and they are counted at the end of the day so that we can see the numbers on the computers match the paper count. I was so tired I had to count out loud to be sure I could keep track. We got it done and were finally out the door at 9:00 pm. My legs were so sore I wasn’t sure I would be able to press the accelerator of the car to get us home. It was dark again and the hot bath beckoned.

I loved being in the process of voting and being out of the scree of what was happening during the day. I got to witness and support our vital processes of government to take place.  I’m guessing there were issues in some polling places but from what I saw yesterday, things worked. A couple times during the day I looked out at the whole process and got teary-eyed. So many people in the world don’t have this opportunity. Our system is by no means perfect, I have many concerns, and yet, I saw and experienced something important yesterday that changed me for the good. In the evening I had the thought that if it was this busy today for the mid-terms, how we will survive the next presidential election process.  Not having enough workers took a toll on those of us who were there.  Consider joining us next election. We’ll need way more people. 

And now, to see the results.