Now it can be told!

Yesterday was a bit of a first for me.

It was a first in the sense that I worked my first election.

What!?!? You say.

Well, I was certified in the last few months as an Election Inspector and since yesterday was Election Day I was scheduled to work the election.

And a long day it was because to work the election here in New York means opening the polls at 6 am and closing them at 9 pm and you are there for the open and close. 6 am to 9 pm would be a long enough day but then you have to factor in the prep time to get everything ready to open at 6 and then the very extensive wrap up which has to take place after the polls close and closing the polls takes a lot longer than opening them since there are very, very...

This is another one of those draft queue jewels and man if this isn’t an old one.

My first election was the 2008 Presidential Election where Barack Obama was elected President. Not only was it notable because it was the first time we elected an African American President but it was also the first time my county (and I believe all the others here in New York State), used electronic voting machines.

Previously, we had this big tanks of voting machines. Huge suckers that were green and had all these switches you had to flip. The great thing about them was that when you entered the voting booth, you had to move this huge lever to one side which drew a curtain around you. When you had finished flipping all those switches to cast your ballot, you drew the humongous Wizard of Oz lever back over to the side it was when you started. The curtain drew back, the machine made this loud clunking noise and simultaneously you heard the noise of all the switches being reset back to their original position.

It made voting a very satisfying experience.

The electronic machines have a slow you feed your ballot into after filling it out in a privacy screen area. It's nowhere near as satisfying to say the least.

I until this past election worked each and every contest including primaries missing only one or two due to work for the last eight years.

The first election I worked, we had this wonderful nun who lived a stone's throw away from my polling place at Maryknoll which is the headquarters for the Jesuit order. She was a fascinating woman who had traveled extensively as part of her missionary work. Also, she had the brother bringing us coffee, tea and snacks to have throughout the very long day.

Really it was wonderful.

Aside from the asshole who tried and did take down our Plan A machine (and I am sure it was intentional on his part because I repeatedly had told him not to yank on his ballot after he fed it in the wrong way twice) it was a decent day.

I worked the handicap machine for my polling site which meant I had a variety of duties. Also, I got to meet the local politicians who vote at our polling place and struck up an acquaintanceship with them - more on that another time.

The fun didn’t last long though because of one particular biddy.

Anyway, the days are extremely long, the pay isn’t that great unless you’re not working and then money is money. I’d do it again but part of me is hoping the biddy is finally old enough not to work elections anymore. After watching her directing people to vote and standing over them as they vote I just couldn’t deal anymore. Mind you that I was dedicated enough that there was a case during one election where I wasn’t working the election (read not getting paid) that I swung by at the end of the day and wound up helping them close down the polls because the other people there were so inept (including biddy). Kind of scary really.

To be continued...