Woke at 5 am for 7 am arrival at the Polling site. The overall atmosphere on site was tense. After signing in, and receiving badges we took an Oath then signed a sheet attesting to this Oath. Once the Oath was completed we continued our huddle with assignments received, and the hourly rotation of duties explained. Several hot points were discussed – previously incarcerated voting. lunches, bathrooms, and where to stash purses. We were 100% women…

The room had been arranged the day prior with voting partitions, chairs, and the like so our next step was machine operations. Elaborate instructions were given during training, and all staff followed these procedures to perfection ensuring optimum machine accuracy. The machines activated quickly and once on line it was time to begin our task.

While no discussion of politics was to occur we had many voters who made inappropriate jokes regarding the election. All were men, and guess this was in an effort to lighten the experience, or be pleasant?. Sadly, these situations occurred when a supervisor was present, and since I had already been reprimanded in front of my fellow poll staff about being too pleasant, “this event not a social call,” this gave me further demerits. Was grateful on Day 2 of my poll work had amazing supervisory staff and no jokes or comments by citizens. WHEW!!!!!!!!!!!

The day moved quickly as the entourage passed through. The Supervisor of Elections made a visit, and thanked us all for working which was a nice touch by a well respected individual. Fellow poll workers were pleasant, and knowledgeable. At the end of the day my task was to count mail in ballots from a secured drop box. I counted with a republican to ensure both parties were represented. Then we secured all machinery, and placed paper ballots from the tallying machines into secured boxes. It was 6:30 p.m. and the day had concluded with approximately 800 voters.

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My civic duty is completed with 9 more days to go.