I’ve been reminiscing quite a bit recently as I take solitary walks as the pandemic unfolds, surges and hopefully winds down.
With all the attention given to how correctly or incorrectly we may have handled voting in the last election, I began to reminisce during one walk, about the many times I’ve worked at the polls. Having lived and worked in three different states ; Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland in my adult years and having been friendly with people involved in different levels of civic life, I was asked if I’d like to work at the polls. Initially I had no idea what that actually meant. I knew there were people who checked you in and people who walked around the polling site like they were on official business but that was about it. I agreed to give it a try and in my late 30s in a community just outside of Philadelphia I served my first day at the polls.
Most voting districts across the country have only so many registered voters who are permitted to vote in a particular polling place The average is 1100 with some city districts being as high as 2000. In rural areas the numbers are as low as 500 per precinct. With the percentage of registered voters who actually vote at between 50% and 60% (frequently lower), a voting district can expect to see as many as 800+ or as few as 50 voters.
I found out fairly quickly that working at the polls, if nothing else, was a long day. You were asked to report before the polls open at 630 or 7 AM and stay till closing at 8 PM.
But I would characterize that long day as a kind of neighborhood event. The poll workers and the voters very often know each other. They live down the street or around the corner and whether they know each other well or by face, they just plan recognize each other. Their children go to school together or play on the same teams. They shop in the same stores. They run into each other occasionally one place or another.
I noticed a quiet seriousness about the polling places in each state. An occasional loud greeting would be hushed. Poll workers saw it as serious business and wanted it recognized as such. Voices were hushed and exchanges, respectful.
The two people on “official business” I came to realize were the Election Judges, each political party had one, a person in this role in each of the polling places where I worked. They were to keep an eye on things, to make sure things went smoothly, fairly, without any glitches. And in my three polling days in Pennsylvania, two in NJ and two in Maryland they did, for the most part, go smoothly.
On one of my days in Pennsylvania there seem to be concern that one of the voting machines was not working properly. The two judges went to the machine and each seem to check it out in their own way and determined together that in fact something was wrong with the machine.
They informed some of the workers to be sure that no voters used that machine and within about 20 minutes or so a couple of men arrived, checked the machine again and determining that it wasn’t working properly put some sort of band around it. The two judges filled out a form that was then attached to the band and each of them signed it. The machine, on wheels, was pushed aside to be dealt with at the end of the day.
All votes already in that machine would be properly counted when the time came.
My other days working at the polls in Pennsylvania then in New Jersey and most recently in Maryland were all very similar. That feeling of neighborhood event was in each. People knew each other, inquired quietly about the health of an elderly family member or were curious about whether one of their children was actually already out of high school. How quickly the years go by.
The same respect was there, the quiet, polite exchanges. There were no more broken machines though there were a couple of times when people arrived wanting to hand in their “mail in” ballots. They were pleasantly handled by one of the people from the Election Board, also present at the polls.
In my experience over the years there were no shenanigans, there was nothing that caused you to wonder what was going on or to question why there seem to be a scurry of activity in one place or another. There just wasn’t any.
The long, sometimes boring day ended as election board volunteers began their sacred duty of seeing that the votes were counted.
We all went home feeling tired but proud of having put in a day that while long was well worth every single minute!
If you’ve never worked at the polls, volunteer some time. You’ll see some friends there and your faith in the system and in your own community will reassure you that things are in good hands.
Connie Lauffer
St Michaels
Marilyn Nace says
What a wonderful letter explaining the workings of the polls from the inside. I may take your advice and volunteer during our next election. Thank you.
Sharron Cassavant says
Thank you for your quiet, respectful effort to share your own experiences as a poll worker. It reflects what I’ve seen in polling stations in four different states. I’ve voted in every federal, state, county, and municipal election since I came of voting age. I wonder how many people who have joined in the ballyhoo about fraud in the recent national election can claim about their own voting records. That’s irrelevant, though. Let all qualified voters go to the polls in every election. Let them also spend some time acquiring information about candidates and issues, information that goes beyond ads, blogs, and speeches.
The only time I’ve been involved in an election involved a recount for a school committee spot in a town of 25,000. I was an observer on behalf of a candidates. The recount did add a few more votes in the winner’s column. Recounts in close races are a fair, just way to ensure that the voters’ will is expressed. Small, unintentional slips can happen, especially with hand counted votes.
But let us all be thankful that we live in a country where, most of the time, winners don’t gloat and losers aren’t sore. We all know what we think about Little League teams that don’t behave that way. I hope we return to a time when our two political parties can manage to behave as well as ten year olds.