I‘ve covered plenty of elections in my 45 years of government reporting. But I’d never worked an election as a contractor for the election department. It was an eye-opener.
First off, for all those misguided people who think the 2020 election was “stolen,” please. This process is ironclad.
In any event, I could have been serving elbow-to-elbow with a MAGA devotee and never known it, because partisanship was set aside by election workers. Imagine.
As I left a polling place at 8:30 p.m. on Election Day as the snow flew, I had just completed more than 40 hours of helping run the election. (Roughly 600 election judges staffed the 38-voter service and polling centers.
Despite feeling trepidation at what the outcome might be, I left on that cold night with a good feeling, because I’d participated in an age-old process in which ordinary Americans help other ordinary Americans cast ballots.
The dozen or so Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated people at my polling place worked together like a well-oiled machine. Outside of the color of a poll worker’s lanyard (blue for Democrats, red for Republicans and purple for unaffiliated), I couldn’t detect who believed what. As it should be.
Guess what. There was no screaming at one another. No insults. No name-calling. These folks didn’t seem like the types who would have joined the president-elect during his rallies where he denigrated large swaths of the American electorate. Rather, everyone had the same goal: to assure all those eligible to vote would have that opportunity.
We shared the mission to carry out a fundamental objective of a democracy.
That’s not to say there were not tense moments. Lines formed. The registration judges, who had the hardest job, in my opinion, had to verify eligibility, based on a driver’s license, birth certificate, utility bill, passport or by several other means. All of those came into play during my four days on the job.
One newly transferred military member had arrived here barely two weeks earlier, and he was eager to vote. The site coordinator ruled him eligible, and he cast his ballot. Another voter learned what form of ID would snag him a ballot and then left and returned with the right documentation.
Poll workers also had to stay alert for political garb, which is considered electioneering and isn’t allowed within 100 feet of polling places. Sure enough, two people showed up wearing MAGA hats. They were asked to remove them prior to entering the polling place. Another sporting a cap bearing a vulgar reference to President Joe Biden made it into the polling place before he was made to remove it. (No “childless cat ladies” T-shirts, however.)
After the registration judges verified voters’ qualifications, the ballot-on-demand (BOD) judges printed the appropriate ballot. It’s worth noting that this election included nearly 80 different ballot styles spanning hundreds of precincts to accommodate those voting in various school districts, cities and towns and fire districts. (My polling place notched 100 % accuracy in printing ballots.)
Election judges also helped set people up at touchscreen voting machines, which printed out their cast ballots, or directed those using paper ballots to voting booths. Others assisted voters in sliding the ballot into the box using a privacy sleeve. At one point on Nov. 5, our polling place developed a long line with a wait time of 45 minutes. Some other polling place waits were longer.
After polls closed, the judges sprang into action to assure that only legitimate ballots had been cast. Everything had to balance. For some judges, their day stretched well into the night.
After observing all of that, I can’t imagine how someone could game the system to “rig” an election. (Of course, this time there are no such claims. Wonder why?)
Everyone had the same goal: to assure all those eligible to vote would have that opportunity.
To return to my point, poll workers of various political stripes were actually kind to one another, helped one another, supported one another. “Thank you,” we said. “You’re welcome,” was the response.
One downside came on Saturday before the election when Christian music suddenly started booming into the polling center. WTF? But when I told another election judge I found it inappropriate, because not all voters are Christians, this Republican judge agreed, and we found a way to muffle the sound from the choir rehearsal taking place in the church during polling time.
Yes, you read that right. This polling place one of eight located in Christian churches. I, for one, found this appalling, given that the U.S. Constitution bars government-sanctioned religion in any form. Why does this continue?
Perhaps the path forward from a nation more divided than I’ve seen in my lifetime lies within that polling place – not only as a demonstration that partisans can work together on important tasks, regardless of one party being labeled “the enemy within,” but also that voters should recognize and appreciate such service.
Perhaps all citizens should experience what I saw and heard during those 40-plus hours. None of the election judges knew how voters would vote. We were there simply to assure they had the right and wherewithal to do so. Patsy. Janet. Ted. Jerry. Jeff. Ellen. Those and others at my polling place showed up early and stayed late to carry out a fair and accurate election. Full stop. It was a shared mission – and shared missions, sadly, have become almost non-existent in today’s political climate.
Pam Zubeck worked for over 45 years as a journalist in Kansas, Oklahoma and Colorado. She covered local government and other topics at The Gazette for 16 years before moving to the Indy in 2009 where she contributed news and cover stories for 14 years. She’s won numerous state, regional and national awards, including the Sigma Delta Chi public service award from the Society of Professional Journalists for her 2012 story, “Misfire,” about the city’s response to the Waldo Canyon Fire. She may be reached at Pam.Zubeck@pikespeakbulletin.org.
