This morning after casting my vote shortly after 6 am, I did something bipartisan. I walked over to one of the Republican poll watchers who regularly shows up at our polling place and said to him "In the spirit of bipartisanship, lets go over to Dunkin' Donuts and get some coffee and doughnuts for the poll inspectors." He agreed and off we went. By way of disclosure, I am a member of the Nassau County Democratic Committee.
Democrats and Republicans are bound to disagree on just about every issue, and we will jockey for power until the end of days, but we both have to maintain a commitment to seeing that the democratic process functions smoothly. Those polling inspectors play an important role in that process. These folks are on the front line of democracy.
Where I live on Long Island, each election district has two Democratic and two Republican inspectors. The firehouse where I vote has four election districts, so we have 16 inspectors plus supervisors and the poll watchers, who show up from time to time.
The inspectors get paid for their time, but they put in long hours. In New York State the polls are open from 6 am to 9 pm. By the time they are finished counting absentee ballots and tabulating results they will have put in a 16-hour day. Many inspectors are now elderly, and I wonder where they get the stamina for the job as well as where we will find replacements once they are no longer able to provide this service.
The poll inspectors serve in all elections and primaries - from Presidential to Town Council and judgeships. Presidential elections, of course, keep them quite busy. But they also have to show up for minor party primaries, when they probably spend the day going stir-crazy from boredom. According to our Democratic election commissioner, William Biamonte, it costs around $1 million to hold an election in Nassau County.
In carrying out their duties, inspectors have to keep things running smoothly, including dealing with malfunction voting machines, answering all sorts of questions, dealing with people who are not in the registry (that happened to me in the last primary) and helping non-English speaking voters.
I know many people will stand in line for hours today to exercise their rights, and tempers are bound to flare. But, please, give some "props" to the poll inspectors. They are doing their best under less than optimal circumstances. And they show us that Democrats and Republicans can work together to help keep democracy strong.