O P I N I O N

THE SOAPBOX

Stand up. Speak up. It’s your turn.

I am a Selectwoman in Ward 10, and need to post this plea.

For those of you who aren’t aware of the hard work that poll workers do, let me give you a brief outline. Even before election day we are required to participate in hours long training. The day before the election, many of us spend hours setting up the poll to ensure efficiency on the morning of the election. We all arrive at 5a.m. to be ready for the voters at 6 a.m.

During the next 13 hours the greeter is there to make sure that you have an ID and are registered to vote. If you were not registered you would then be directed to the Voter Registration table. Our ballot inspectors check in voters on the poll pads and then direct you to the person handing out ballots.

I am one of the folks who takes all of the receipts given to each voter and then am required to physically check them off on our paper check list. A tedious job, to say the least. After the polls close we count all of the ballots by hand to make sure that the number of ballots balance to the exact amount that City Hall delivered that morning. If not, we start counting all over again.

We have teams to do Hand Counts (the ballots that weren’t able to be processed through the tabulator), and a team to record “Write In” votes. By this time, you can only imagine how tired we all are. We do all of this without complaint, not for money or glory, but because we feel proud to give back to our community.

To say how irritating it is to have to record ridiculous and inappropriate write ins would be an understatement. We recorded disgusting phrases, and others that were children who clearly are not even able to be elected, adding at least an hour or more to an already long day.

My plea is this: Please have more respect for us as we work diligently to ensure having free and accurate elections.