In appreciation of the humble poll worker

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twixtnightandmorn's avatar
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Since the election is only a few hours away, I'd like to take a second to sing the praises of those under-appreciated heroes, the poll workers. Without them, elections would be even more of a chaotic mess than they are already, but I don't think people realize just what goes into being a poll worker. Three times in my life I've worked the polls, and after the first time I did it, I'm still amazed at the fact I went back the second and third time.

Now, I don't know what it is like in other states to be a poll worker, but in California we had to be there at 5am to be ready to open at 7, and although we closed at 8pm, with breakdown and clean-up and turning in of the ballots we weren't entirely off the clock until at least 10pm, usually closer to 11. In California, we got paid to do this - the first time as a "student volunteer" I received $45 for  my 13 hours, the third time I was paid $65 because I was the "inspector" who got to come in a day early to make sure the new voting machines were plugged in to charge and then come back the next day at 5am to finish my set up. Either way, that's a very low amount of money, so I don't think anyone in their right mind is going to volunteer for the $5 or less (usually less) an hour in recompense, especially since you still have to pay taxes on that.

The money was just a nice bonus as far as I was concerned, because being young and naive the first time I worked the polls I thought lending my time to help the election run smoothly was part of my civic duty, something to take pride in and something others would appreciate.

Boy, was I wrong.

As a poll worker, I have been screamed at, spit at, threatened, called names, intimidated - like I said, after my first poll workers job, I don't know why I ever went back two more times. I really don't know why I went back the third time, because some insane person who was convinced I had ripped up their ballot rather than place it in the box came back after the polls were closed and started threatening myself and the other workers to the point that the police were called. And, unfortunately, this happens more often than people realize. My aunt and dad both worked as poll workers as well - my aunt only did it once because she couldn't handle how people treated the poll workers. My dad did it twice but then again I think he saw people trying to attack him as some sort of battle of honor that he was sure as hell not going to lose.

To make a long story short, being a poll worker is hard work, done for little or no money and a hell of a lot of people taking it out on you because they went to the wrong precinct, the machines didn't work right, or just because they feel like being assholes.

So, I'd just like to put this out there: if you go vote tomorrow, take a minute to let your poll workers know you appreciate them taking the time to keep the process flowing. I worked with Democrats, Republicans and Independents, with conservatives and liberals, but we all had one thing in common: we did our best, and nothing made that work better than the few people who were kind to us in the middle of the angry chaos of election day.

© 2012 - 2024 twixtnightandmorn
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da-vhenan's avatar
Wow, that truly does sound awful.