A Day in the Life of an Election Precinct Ballot Scanner and Election 2024

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. 

ICE Tabulator Machine

I got to my precinct by 5:45 and set up both ICE Tabulators (ImageCast Evolution™) - the big, black ballot boxes into which you scan your ballot. It takes about 15 minutes to set up both machines, and most of that time is waiting for the electronics to turn on or for things to print. When the Tabulator is ready, it will print a ticket that everyone in the polling place has to sign, which proves that the machine is running correctly, and all votes are ZERO (no cheating here!)

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... 

This is a Snackle Box

I took my lunch from 11:45 to 12:15, eating in my car. In March, I brought some microwave mac & cheese, which took forever to heat up, so this time, I make a Snackle Box with sliced pepperoni, rolls of lunchmeat, cheese cubes, and crackers, and I'm so thankful I did because the microwave in our polling place (which is a public library) had a lock on it, so it couldn't be used! Lunch wasn't long enough, and I didn't eat enough (which I regretted later). 

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. 

Secure Bag

Next, I opened the side bin and pulled out all of the General Ballots and put them in one bag, then opened the secondary bin (inside of main bin) and removed any Write-In Ballots. Each of these types of ballots were put into a secure money bag, for each machine, so I ended up with five bags: General Ballots Machine 1 and Machine 2, Write-In Ballots Machine 1 and Machine 2, and Provision Ballots Machine 1). These bags are then given directly to the Clerk, who puts them in a separate, locking 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. 

Cancelled Conference & the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Hurricane Helene

I have been a Floridian my entire life, so hurricanes are nothing new to me, but twenty years ago, I lived through The Four in '04, which drastically changed how I feel about hurricanes (I hate them now). Back then, Charley came in early August and did a lot of damage in South Florida. Then we got Frances on September 5th that did a number on the whole state, really, and the first one that did some damage to our area of North Central Florida. Ivan was next, making landfall two weeks later in the FL the peninsula. And exactly three weeks after Frances, Jeanne made landfall on September 25th. 

The Four in '04 will never be forgotten
Those Yellow and Cyan tracks messed me all up

Frances did a lot of damage to my city, but it was Jeanne that took it to a whole new level of suck - the ground was so wet because all the prior storms, many of our gorgeous Oak trees just couldn't stand up against the winds that Jeanne brought with her, and they just toppled over, pulling their roots right out of the ground. An old story from the local paper said that they estimated almost half a million cubic yards of tree trunks and debris was collected after the storms. 

I will never forget the sound of hearing a tree (that straddled both mine and my neighbor's backyard) ripping out of the ground and falling over... It was so loud and foreign to us that we thought a tornado was coming, and we clambered into the hallway with couch cushions over our head, awaiting the impending devastation. Instead we heard this massive thud at the same time the power went out. We stayed there for a few minutes until we felt it was safe (no noises, no train sounds) then climbed out and turned on flashlights. We didn't see anything out the front windows, and when I looked out the bedroom window to the backyard... all I saw was tree bark. No sky. No stars. No ground. Just tree bark. The next morning, when we could inspect the backyard during the daylight, we could see that this tree, probably bigger around than a minivan, fell from my neighbor's yard, across our backyard, with the canopy resting in my other neighbor's yard, tangled in power lines, missing everyone's homes by less than a foot. 

Because of the tree canopy entwined with the power lines, our entire neighborhood was without power for almost a week. Florida in September is no joke with no AC! We slept in the living room with the windows open at night to keep cool, went to local restaurants and bookstores to keep cool in the day. We lost thousands of dollars worth of food in our fridge and freezers. And we learned a lot about Storm Preparedness. 

Photo courtesy of The Gainesville Sun archives
(Photo to show devastation - this isn't my yard)

Anyway, the point of this little flashback is to say that I. Hate. Hurricanes. My PTSD is off the charts anytime one is coming our way. And lawd, Helene was a big one. 

For the past few weeks, I'd been looking forward to attending a work conference in Orlando. My employer had paid for three nights' stay at the conference hotel. Hubby was gonna come along for a 'mini-vacation' - kind of a get away from all this bullshit we've been dealing with thing. 

I had taken off September 25th since Hubby had a few doctor's appointments, so I wasn't checking my work email that day. I'd been watching the weather to see what Helene was going to do, but it wasn't on my radar yet as something to worry about. Blissfully unaware of a message in my inbox, stating that the conference had been cancelled. Made sense, of course, since it was a conference of Florida-specific attendees who would be more useful to their communities during a storm than attending a conference. But still... wah! You guys ruined my vacation! I can hear Weird Al's song Why Does This Always Happen to Me? playing in my head right now...

 

Before we left for his follow up with Dr. L, I got a text from work that said we'd be closed starting at noon on Wednesday, through the end of the day on Thursday. Okay. That's great, but that's not good... That means shit may be hitting the fan soon. 

We went to his doctor's appointments, as planned, then came home and did storm prep, including:

• Charging all the things (laptops, phones, tablets, battery backups, etc)
• Filling multiple large containers with water and freezing (will keep freezers colder longer, if the power goes out)
• Putting all the batteries and flashlights in a centrally convenient place (the living room table)
• Washing the dishes (just in case the water goes out or a lift station goes offline after the storm)

And once all that was done, all I could do was be perpetually online. Wednesday night was okay; I tried to get as much sleep as possible because I knew that Thursday night was gonna suck. 

On Thursday, my boss called me to check in on me, to let me know that the office would also be closed on Friday, and to tell me that the conference was cancelled. Again, I'm not mad that it was cancelled, I'm just bummed at the loss of a mini-vacation, basically on my employer's dime. I shared that info with Hubby and he agreed that it was a bummer, especially because he'd already put in, and been approved for, the time off! We kicked around the idea of going... somewhere... but never really solidified anything, and my mind wasn't in vacation mode at that point. 

Dinner was okay - I could see the bushes moving a little more than they normally moved. Rain was harder. I spent all of dinner on my tablet reading X, trying to keep my mind off the incoming storm, but also staying up to date on what others are experiencing. Somehow that was really helpful. I took the tablet to bed a few hours later, turned on The Amazing Race (Season 1) and binge-watched with Hubby, to keep me distracted from the sounds happening outside. Wind was howling. Trees were creaking. Things were hitting the roof with hollow bonks. Every time the winds kicked up, I took a deep breath to calm down and prayed for it to be over. The cat - who is always aloof and very independent - came and curled up on our headboard, so we knew it had to be pretty bad! For hours, all I did was refresh X, play FreeCell solitaire, and cheer on the teams of the Amazing Race. 

Thankfully, we never heard anything big topple over. We never lost power. We were safe and warm inside our comfy bed, and after the worst of it passed, around 2am, I felt like it was safe for me to fall asleep. Bless his heart, Hubby stayed up with me the entire night because he knew how much I hate storms! Both of us conked out in minutes, and slept in probably until 10am that morning!

When we got up Friday morning, we did a quick damage check outside, and everything looked good. We kept power all night, but at some point after 2am, we lost internet service (and it stayed out until Sunday night, because the provider had lost power at their facility). There were a handful of big-ish branches in the yard, lots of leaves and Spanish moss on the ground. A few big branches and large twigs on the roof. But our Old Girl survived to fight another fight... God bless concrete block houses built in the 1950s! 

No internet meant that we didn't know much of what was going on in the world. I assumed that Helene just blew herself out by the time she got to the state line and all was well, so imagine my sadness and horror when I finally used some of my cell phone data and saw the devastation happening in western NC and eastern TN... All I could think was that this was going to be terrible for them, because they don't know how to prepare for storms like we do... they don't hit by hurricanes, so they don't stockpile, or keep extra food and batteries! I assumed there'd be pockets in the community that lost power, or needed to come together to feed neighbors, but the next time I used data to pull up X, I was horrified. Streets were gone. Entire cities were gone. People were gone. How in the world is Tennessee and North Carolina going to fix this? And where was the National Guard, or FEMA, or even the local cops? From what I could see for the few hours I was online, there was no one with any sort of official capacity helping these people. 

My heart hurts for the people of Eastern Tennessee and Western North Carolina. If you feel that you can, please donate to Meredith O'Rourke's (Trump) GoFundMe for these hurricane victims, donate to Samaritan's Purse, or to any local church or charity in the area.