For those of you who've been around a while, you might remember back in 2020, I worked as a Ballot Distributor Poll Worker at my local primary election. Since then, the world went to shit, then came back, and now it's 2024, and time for new elections. So I completed my in-person training, my online training, and then it was time for Election Day! I thought that it would be fun this time around to do a Day in the Life kind of post, for anyone who's truly curious about what a Poll Worker does.
The night before, I packed up my backpack with crossword puzzles, snacks, lunch, extra Pepsi, and my electronics and set my alarm for 4:30am.
On Election Day, I snoozed until about 5am, then got up and dressed. I grabbed my lunch box and left the house by 5:20. I went to the good Circle K (you know, the one in town that's always clean and stocked and not full of whack-a-doos? That one.) I got two fountain drinks, a growler of ice, and a package of Swiss Cake Rolls.
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| ICE Tabulator Machine |
Once I finished my task of setting up both tabulators, I assisted other volunteers with hanging up signs and unfolding voting screens. We all took our oath (I don't have it memorized, but basically saying that I'll follow the laws and rules of the state) and then the Poll Deputy announced the polls were open.
The four people who were in line before the polls opened came in and voted, and then we had a steady, slow drip of people throughout the morning, maybe 10 or so per hour. Our precinct is a very small precinct, with fewer than 1200 registered voters. Almost 700 had voted early (either in person or by Vote-by-Mail), leaving about 450 who had not yet voted. So, it didn't sound like it was going to be a very busy day (even if every single voter came in today, it would only be 30 people an hour).
Similar to the earlier primary election we had, many people were still coming to the wrong location. After the 2020 census, new precinct borders were drawn, and some people who had been part of this precinct for decades (including me!) were now in a new precinct. In and of itself, that's not an issue - but when people don't read their mail or emails, they end up in the wrong location. In the earlier election, I think 40% of the people who came in where in the wrong place! It was slightly better this time, but still at least 20% were in the wrong place. We got a lot of gasp, but I've voted in this precinct for years! Why did they do this to me!? kind of reactions, like it was some sort of Grand Scheme to rob them of the opportunity to vote or something.
At one point, a man came in with a very broken Driver's License (like, it was in multiple pieces), as well as an expired passport, and his voter card. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to vote, but because his license was still valid, and his signature could be seen, he was still able to vote (suck it, naysayers who scream about voter suppression).
One lady who said that she was part of a military family came to vote, and on her way out, said that she "hopes that there's an actual change this time." I took this to mean that she voted for Trump, and watching all of the other (non-Republican) poll workers' faces crumple up like they smelled crap was hilarious. {ETA: There was actual change this time}
By 9am, we were up to about 30 votes, including a provisional ballot, and a spoiled ballot. A voter wearing a Yes on 3 (recreational pot) shirt came in and they just stunk up the entire space, ick. They smelled like they had just smoked an entire joint in their car and came in specifically to cause a scene. We gave them no scene. Also, with the library finally open, the AC turned on, and it got chilly in the room.
Outside, there was a man complaining that "They" were making it harder to vote (who is "They," my dude?) and complaining that Souls to the Polls doesn't happen now, which of course is just how "They" make sure that "black people can't vote." (I suppose he was suggesting that Republicans are the big, scary "They" trying to keep those uppity black folk from voting? Give me a break.).
One young lady came in simply because her friend told her it was Election Day and she was supposed to come; she had no idea it even was Election Day, had no idea how to vote, had no idea what to do, or who to vote for.
Another voter opted to skip half of the races on her ballot because she "didn't want to vote for people {she} didn't know." Why not do some research first, Susan? Why come to Election Day completely uninformed? I don't get it. Though I guess it's better to abstain from voting for anyone than just randomly filling in bubbles at random...
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| This is a Snackle Box |
The afternoon was slower than the morning, but it picked up again around "after school" time, 3:30ish. We reached 150 votes by around 4:30 and one lady (seemingly a "White Liberal Cat Lady" type mom with her non-binary special snowflake band geek kid) was visibly angry that there were only 150 votes. She was pissed at her neighbors for not voting in this "most important election of our lifetime." I explained that the majority of our precinct chooses to vote early or by mail, but she was still pissed off as they left. Sucks to be you, sweetie. Be mad.
By dinner time, we were up to 220 ballots (about half of the remaining outstanding votes), and we were busier than we'd been the rest of the day. We had an Independent Poll Watcher hanging out with us, and he was able to help a few of those Wrong Precinct People get a ride to their assigned precincts (interestingly, both voters were mothers with their kids). Incoming voters slowed down by 6:30 with our last voter coming in at 6:45pm.
Our final vote total was 234; combined with the early votes and votes-by-mail, that means that about 1000 out of 1200 people voted in our precinct, which is a great turnout. Once the polls were officially closed, I began shutting down the ICE-Ts. I was able to peep the Totals Taps to see what our votes were, and (not a surprise), our precinct was 2-to-1 for Kamala, weed, and abortions. But I will say that it wasn't as much of a blowout for Kamala as I was expecting, despite this being a very liberal city.
Once the ICE-Ts print the Total Tapes three times, I ripped off two of them - one is posted on the Precinct front door and one is given to the Clerk - and left the third one attached to the machine. Once everyone signed this tape, I powered the machine down, put the plug back inside the machine, pulled out any Provisional Ballots from the Auxiliary Bin, then put the ICE-T lid back on and locked it.
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| Secure Bag |
Once the ICE-Ts are completely shut down and powered down, the main Memory Cards are removed from each machine. Memory cards are used to record all votes, because these machines are not connected to the internet at any point during voting. Each card is put into a labeled card case denoting which machine they came from, then put into another secure bag. Memory Card Slot Labels and bag label numbers are recorded during this process, and then the memory cards are taken directly to the Supervisor of Elections office by the Election Support Worker. This allows the Supervisor of Elections office to begin reporting vote totals to the state without having to wait for physical ballots to be delivered after polling places finish their shut down processes.
After the ICE-Ts are shut down and the memory cards have been whisked away, I rolled the machines to the designated storage room to which only election workers have access. I put them away and went back to the main room to help others break down the space, including folding up voting booths, collecting signs and pens and random detritus. Also during this time, the Clerk is doing a lot of paperwork, then swears us out, and allows us to go home.
As you can imagine, this is always a very long day... I got there at 5:45am and didn't leave until around 7:45pm, so about 14 hours. I got paid $250 for this, or about $17.85 per hour. Some might argue that it's not worth it, but I'm honestly not doing it for the money (though it sure is nice, especially because I also get paid eight hours of my normal salary from my employer!)... I'm doing it because we need to have more middle-age and younger people involved in our local, state, and national elections. Poll Workers often skew very old because retired folks just have more time to devote to volunteering. If we had more awesome employers like mine who encouraged participation, I think it would broaden the age ranges.
Anyway, once I left the library, I picked up some Publix chicken on the way home, then stuffed my face while I chatted about my day with Hubby. I went to bed around 9, exhausted, but stayed on Twitter (X) for hours, watching election results come in, and I was feeling hopeful, but at the same time, not "surprisedly" hopeful... it felt like, Yes, this is good, this is what is supposed to happen. I was more confident this time than I was in 2020, watching the electoral votes climb as more and more states were called for Trump.
I wanted so badly to stay up until the election was officially called for him (since I missed all of the schadenfreude* in 2020), but I was dragging ass, and I finally had to turn in by midnight. At that point, I believe Trump was close to 200 electoral votes, almost a 100-point lead over Kamala. I slept the sleep of the dead, but expected hubby to come in at some point and let me know who won (if it was known at that point). He never did though, but he stayed up a few hours longer than did I.
Instead, I slept until about 9am (I took Wednesday off), having to drag myself out of bed for the day. I got my news from X (as you should) and what a glorious day it was! America was back, baby! I'm looking forward to what Trump 2.0 will do, with his amazing VP JD Vance. I have a feeling it's going to be a lot of Fuck Around and Find Out this time.
Now, I plan to spend the rest of my day reveling in watching liberals melt down on the internet, especially over on Reddit and TikTok.
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