I last posted on Daily Kos after the 2021 failed campaign to recall California governor Gavin Newsom. I wrote about the experience my wife and I had working in a polling place on voting day. I described how unpleasant our stint was, particularly when compared to our positive experience working in the polls during the 2020 presidential election. For the recall, people who came to vote were in an especially sour, combative mood, especially regarding the requirement to wear masks in the voting center.
After that negative experience in September of 2021, we hesitated to volunteer to work during the midterm election. Our hesitation was only momentary, as we quickly realized that if we didn’t volunteer then the bastards had won.
So it was with some nervousness that we reported for work at our voting center on Saturday, November 5 to begin our four-day shift. And I’m delighted to report that our experience this time was much similar to our 2020 experience. In short, it was great.
Part of the reason may be that we were assigned to a different voting center location. It was a different location but nonetheless a very conservative one. (We live in a conservative corner of Los Angeles County).
How do I know? LA County uses a hybrid electronic-and-paper voting system. In-person voters (most Californians vote by mail) make their choices on “Ballot Access Machine” (BAM) using a touch screen. After a voter marks their choices the BAM spits out a paper ballot that the voter can review to ensure the ballot accurately reflects their choices. Then, to cast their ballot, the voter reinserts the paper ballot into the BAM. The paper ballot is dropped into a sealed BAM container.
After the polls close poll workers, working in teams, count the paper ballots to ensure the number of ballots in each “BAM” container matches the number that the BAM machine says were cast. (We’re not tallying votes. We’re just counting the number of ballots cast.) While counting the paper ballots you can’t help but notice the race at the top of the ballot, which is generally the governor’s race. (I say “generally” because different voters have different ballots, depending on what precinct they live in, so not every ballot looks the same.) The ballots I counted with my partner had, by my very rough estimate, 80% of votes cast for Gavin Newsom’s Republican opponent, Brian Dahle. Considering the LA Times called the race for Newsom approximately 18 minutes after the polls closed, you can see that the area where we live doesn’t exactly reflect the overall California electorate.
Virtually every voter was polite. Many thanked us for volunteering. A few grumbled about not being asked for photo ID, but many were at least somewhat reassured when they realized they had to give their full names and year of birth to receive a ballot. (One woman was still unsatisfied. “A family member would know that and could steal my vote.“ I resisted the temptation to say, “If you’re worried about family members stealing your vote, maybe you should get in touch with Dr. Phil.”) One asked if we were using Dominion voting machines. (We weren’t.)
The encounter I most remember was with a young man, heavily tattooed, who was wearing a “Let’s Go Brandon” t-shirt. He was unfailingly polite – “yes please,” “thank you,” and so on. He quietly cast his ballot and left.
As we did in 2020, when a person self-identified as a first-time voter, all the workers in the polling place applauded when the voter got their “I Voted” sticker. The most touching moment was when a young couple came in, clearly excited and speaking in heavily accented English, and told us they had just become citizens and were voting for the first time. They received an especially robust round of applause when they held up their “I Voted” stickers for all to see.
I’m certainly not going to draw any sweeping conclusions from our one brief experience. I know there are tough, fierce battles ahead of us. But at least for a day, our experience did make us feel a heckuva lot better about Election Day, and maybe even a little better about our country.