Like a lot of you on this site, the last several years have been an eye-opening experience in the way our form of government works, and the challenges in keeping it functioning properly. Especially important in this, probably more so now than ever, is in having properly functioning election bodies to ensure that every eligible voter gets to cast their ballot and that every ballot is counted properly. This, for me, has probably had the most impact on how I view our democracy. I've yet to contribute to any candidate, although I will be doing so in the near future, and canvassing or phone-banking for a candidate is not something that appeals to me. I've always been interested in the nuts and bolts of a process, however, so I made the decision to become part of that process. I volunteered to be an election judge for my county.
This morning, I went to one of the two training sessions that our county holds for new and current judges. I was pleaseantly at the range of ages of the judges, from a woman in her mid-20's through my age (40), all the way up to 60 and 70 year olds. There were a few more Democrats than Republicans in our group. Our instructors were the two deputy election clerks, one Republican, one Democrat. Both of them have over 20 years experience in handling the setup for the elections, and seem to have the process down quite well. They had, for these sessions, finally been able to put together a formal manual to give to us. In it was all of the information we needed to know for setting up the polls, how to get the machines ready, how we handle ballots for people who have moved or changed their name, and (new to our area), how to handle a provisional ballot. We were shown videos on how to deal with electioneering, upset voters, and the importance of treating everyone equally, regardless of race, sex, disability, etc.
In all, I was very impressed with the setup my county has for running an election. We were given everything we need, and it was impressed upon us in no uncertain terms the importance of maintaining the security of the ballots and respecting the privacy and beliefs of all voters. I am actually very excited about getting to be a part of the process. I plan on writing diaries for each of my election experiences this year, starting with our presidential primary next month, all the way through the presidential election in November. I hope you all will enjoy them and maybe be inspired to help out with your local elections.