Got up at 4:30 do get my typical chores done at home so I could get to my polling place and start setting up at 6. Our chief judge brought us muffins and I spent the first part of the morning helping one of my fellow judges unload his lunch and set up his work station. He was a large gentlemen in a scooter with paralysis in both his legs and one of his arms. His name was Rodney and he liked to know things and tell you about the things he knew. It was exhausting as he fixated on me, maybe it was my youth, or gender or just general kindness and he made sure to roll up next to me. Thankfully, this first part of the day was insanely busy. I worked one of the digital check-in machines and got my script for the whole encounter down pat. I saw all manner of folk and it was great to see so many bright and hopeful faces. I saw someone in a Fallout shirt (Fallout is popular video game) and when I commented on it she said she was actually working on it! I saw an old acquaintance from my college who did not recognize me. Since I saw a lot of local addresses, I meet many people from my apartment complex. In fact, because of the nature of my area, I mainly referenced the same ten street addresses with the only difference being the apartment number. I made the same stupid jokes over and over, polishing the routines for each new person, trying to read their faces as they approached. I found this part great fun and a delightful challenge. Unfortunately you also heard other people's pitches and poor Rodney was a kind guy but his delivery would fall flat and he didn't learn from his mistakes. His intros were often something like, "Are you with the bride or the groom?" or "Are you here for the barmixtzfah?" These would mostly lead to confusion and nervous laughter...a hard opener for Rodney to recover from later in the transaction.
I took my first (and only break) around 11. Afterward I got to change where I was sitting and ended up next to my dear dear friend Janice, who I had only met a week ago, but we just GOT each other. This is what helped make the day go by so much easier from that point forward. She worked the Provisional Ballot table where all the people with address, precinct and absentee problems go to fill out more paperwork and carry around bright orange folders. Janice taught me how to do it all and and quickly got the whole gist of it in a half hour or so. Then I was doing that on top of the check-in and we both got pretty good at anticipating each other at our orange table. It was nice to be working in a high pace environment with a teammate that I liked and trusted. It was painfully reminiscent of my time in the Boston fringe theater and my restuarant/bar work in Baltimore.
But the weirdest thing of the whole night: When I was looking up a gentlemen's name in the database and got his address to match, I had to do a double take as it was listed as MY address. I looked at it a few times, to the point where the man asked if something was wrong. Procedure had me verify his address after his name and when I asked he gave me a completely different one then mine. I was grateful for this, otherwise I would have started having a reality bending break-down in the middle of the polling place. I then, quite dumbly said, "I live at the address you have listed." and there was a pause. He said "What?" Then I asked him if he had lived there before and he said yes but not in a couple of years and we both had this moment of surreal wonder at the sheer odds of the encounter. Then I shook his hand, at his prompting, and sent him of to get his address changed so I could keep working.
Our precinct closed like an hour later than planned due to the sheer number of people in line at the end of the day (1300 people came through our tiny room). We were all frazzled since there had only been one break for most of us and we needed to finished packing everything up that night. additionally there weren't a whole lot of young people so a bunch of tasks got relegated to me. I would usually be fine with this, but I was also designated the Driver for the precinct, which means taking all the digital and physical ballots from the polls to a drop-off point nearby. I was told this needed to be done as soon as possible so I was on edge about making sure that I was ready to take it when the time came. But I received no clear indication as to how long it would take and ended up getting on my hands and knees and hastily removing and organizing all the wiring and pollbook stuff. Most everyone else just looked tired and lost and went to eat pizza and count spare ballots. Oh yeah that reminds me. We got eight pizzas from some mystery benefactor. No idea where they came from. Or best theory is that there's some organization that does it. Which is patently ludicrous. So I did a bunch of work while people sat around and ate pizza, all the while freaking out about when I would need to drop everything to be the government's lamest getaway driver. So I was pretty angry near the end, and it didn't help that I had three old dudes simultaneously try to give me directions to where I was going despite the fact I had the address and could just use my GPS. I tried to tell them but they were so frustratingly hungry for a time when that information was actually useful I nodded along with gritted teeth. I eventually got the four blue bins in my car and headed to the drop-off point fuming. It wasn't too far and at a local school. A line of cars was waiting for me there, where men were stripping the cars of their blue cargos while clueless high schoolers in reflective outfits took the paperwork. After they unloaded my vehicle the teenagers gave me a receipt for the corresponding paperwork, a yellow carbon copy. I wasn't returning to the precinct so I asked, "What am I supposed to do with this?" And the high schoolers just sorta looked at each other, shrugged and one said, "Keep it?". So I did. Hopefully someone important didn't need them...
Today's Workout
(Working the polls!)
I took my first (and only break) around 11. Afterward I got to change where I was sitting and ended up next to my dear dear friend Janice, who I had only met a week ago, but we just GOT each other. This is what helped make the day go by so much easier from that point forward. She worked the Provisional Ballot table where all the people with address, precinct and absentee problems go to fill out more paperwork and carry around bright orange folders. Janice taught me how to do it all and and quickly got the whole gist of it in a half hour or so. Then I was doing that on top of the check-in and we both got pretty good at anticipating each other at our orange table. It was nice to be working in a high pace environment with a teammate that I liked and trusted. It was painfully reminiscent of my time in the Boston fringe theater and my restuarant/bar work in Baltimore.
But the weirdest thing of the whole night: When I was looking up a gentlemen's name in the database and got his address to match, I had to do a double take as it was listed as MY address. I looked at it a few times, to the point where the man asked if something was wrong. Procedure had me verify his address after his name and when I asked he gave me a completely different one then mine. I was grateful for this, otherwise I would have started having a reality bending break-down in the middle of the polling place. I then, quite dumbly said, "I live at the address you have listed." and there was a pause. He said "What?" Then I asked him if he had lived there before and he said yes but not in a couple of years and we both had this moment of surreal wonder at the sheer odds of the encounter. Then I shook his hand, at his prompting, and sent him of to get his address changed so I could keep working.
Our precinct closed like an hour later than planned due to the sheer number of people in line at the end of the day (1300 people came through our tiny room). We were all frazzled since there had only been one break for most of us and we needed to finished packing everything up that night. additionally there weren't a whole lot of young people so a bunch of tasks got relegated to me. I would usually be fine with this, but I was also designated the Driver for the precinct, which means taking all the digital and physical ballots from the polls to a drop-off point nearby. I was told this needed to be done as soon as possible so I was on edge about making sure that I was ready to take it when the time came. But I received no clear indication as to how long it would take and ended up getting on my hands and knees and hastily removing and organizing all the wiring and pollbook stuff. Most everyone else just looked tired and lost and went to eat pizza and count spare ballots. Oh yeah that reminds me. We got eight pizzas from some mystery benefactor. No idea where they came from. Or best theory is that there's some organization that does it. Which is patently ludicrous. So I did a bunch of work while people sat around and ate pizza, all the while freaking out about when I would need to drop everything to be the government's lamest getaway driver. So I was pretty angry near the end, and it didn't help that I had three old dudes simultaneously try to give me directions to where I was going despite the fact I had the address and could just use my GPS. I tried to tell them but they were so frustratingly hungry for a time when that information was actually useful I nodded along with gritted teeth. I eventually got the four blue bins in my car and headed to the drop-off point fuming. It wasn't too far and at a local school. A line of cars was waiting for me there, where men were stripping the cars of their blue cargos while clueless high schoolers in reflective outfits took the paperwork. After they unloaded my vehicle the teenagers gave me a receipt for the corresponding paperwork, a yellow carbon copy. I wasn't returning to the precinct so I asked, "What am I supposed to do with this?" And the high schoolers just sorta looked at each other, shrugged and one said, "Keep it?". So I did. Hopefully someone important didn't need them...
Today's Haiku
Up to my eyeballs
with the shambling populace
This is my precinct
with the shambling populace
This is my precinct
Today's Workout
(Working the polls!)
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