You're the Voice

For the primary election this year, my dad applied to work as an election official. He was assigned a precinct in North Little Rock and had some interesting stories to tell me. So for the general election, I decided to take time off at my regular job and see for myself what working at the polls was like.

On November 2, I got to the precinct at 6:45 a.m. and helped the lady in charge (called the “Chief Judge” ) set up things, organize ballots, etc. Our precinct had three different types of ballots. At 7:20, voters started lining up to vote at 7:30 when the precinct opened.

My main assignment was handing out ballots. Each voter would go to a table to be identified with their driver’s license or voter registration card and then come to my table to get their ballot. After they voted, their ballot would be put in a machine that counted the votes. As you can imagine, the process had to be very organized. I could see how an election could be corrupted by someone not being organized or paying attention. The ladies I worked with were very diligent about the counting of the votes and making sure everything matched up. They were all older than me by at least 30 years, but most were very sharp, funny, and just delightful. The “Chief Judge” was the person voters would go to with changes of address, problems, or complaints.

A few things that surprised me: a lady who looked intelligent had voted for everyone on the ballot and therefore had the ballot disqualified (doesn’t she know that elections about about choosing one person?); explaining to a person why there are not Democrat and Republican ballots (basically explaining the different between a primary and a general election); a man who got irate because he had been sent to three different precincts (why would a person not figure out what precinct to go to BEFORE Election Day?).

I was reminded once again how fortunate we are in this country to have the right and privilege to vote. I hope more people are encouraged to exercise their right and have a say in how the city, state, and country is run. I’m ready for the next election!