Wednesday, Nov. 03, 2004 7:33 P.M.
United We Stand What an interesting day I had yesterday. It was totally unexpected. The whole day took on a surreal atmosphere. I am humbled by my experience. I got up yesterday morning and poured my coffee and sat at my computer. It was 6:15. I knew the polls didn�t open until 7:00 and I sure as heck didn�t want to arrive early and have to wait for those that had to go early because of work. I arrived at 10:00 and ran into a few people I know. I cast my vote for Kerry and then on to voting for the Town Council and School Department. Next were the bond issues. This was a very big election in this town this year. Before I cast my votes, I was having a conversation with the moderator. Her name is Clara and she is about 70 years old. I know her from bingo. A lively lady. In passing, I mentioned that I had thought occasionally about offering to man the polls and donate a few hours. I really had thought about it, but never did it. I was more or less making conversation than anything. She told me to write my name, address and phone number on a piece of paper and she would makes sure it got to the right people by the end of the day. Sure, why not? I�ll never hear from them anyway. I wrote it down, said my goodbyes and left. I came home and poured another coffee and proceeded to enjoy my day off. That was, for about an hour, I did.. At 11:15, the phone rang. The woman on the other end of the phone asked if I was Cosmicrayola. I said I was. Then I heard the most amazing question. �Want to work today?� �Umm, how is this?� I asked. �Oh, this is Patty from the Board of Canvassers. We sure could use your help!� I said fine, I�d be right up. When I got back, I found out that I needed to be sworn in to do this. Well, that makes sense. They swore me in and sent me to the Fire House. The fire house is about 5 or 6 miles from where I was. I drove down, walked in and you would have thought I just announced everyone had won the lottery. Boy was I Miss Popularity. (I should have realized then that something was amiss) I was told to stand by the machine, no closer than 5 feet, instruct people to put the ballot in the slot and the blue privacy sleeve on top, give them an �I VOTED� sticker and smile. I was also told to make sure to run the sleeves back to the clerks when I got a pile of them and to only approach the machine if a ballot got stuck. Then, God forbid, I had to quickly cover the ballot so I couldn�t peek and pull out the ballot and send said ballot and voter back to the clerk to do their thing. (Void said ballot, register it as such and receive another ballot.) Sounded easy. Sounded like something I could do. I was a proud and happy camper. Until..... The head of the board came in. She immediately fired me. Instead, I was made an assistant clerk and handed over to Charlie. It was Charlie�s first election job too, but Charlie was trained! Yup, he was the clerk of brains! In all fairness, Charlie was 70 years old but he was obviously a quick study. You would have thought he had done it for years. I felt confident that I was where I should be, sitting next to good old Charlie. We ended up having a blast! Within 15 minutes, I felt I had known him for years. I figured I could probably sit and converse with Charlie for hours. That turned out to be a good thing. I asked how long they would need me, as it was around 11:30 and I hadn�t had a thing to eat yet. They told me there lunch leftovers in the kitchen and I would be fed dinner. Dinner? That sounded a lot like they planned on me staying until 4 or 5. Nope, silly me. The polls closed at 9. Then the work started. I got home at 11:15. p.m. Yup. 12 solid hours. I was in charge of handing out the ballot and checking the names of those that didn�t show up in the district book and then sending them to Town Hall if need be. That part was easy. The more difficult part when the polls closed. Then it was following a set way of putting things away and sealing and signing and initialing and accompanying all people and ballots back to Town Hall and swearing to God and Country that everything had gone exactly as it was supposed to. It really is an awesome responsibility. I really didn�t take it as lightly as it sounds here. This may sound corny to some, but I felt pride and was a bit humbled but the magnitude of it all. I felt like I was part of something really important. I�m glad I did it. I enjoyed it. And after all that, I ate well and even found out that I get paid for doing it! Hell, it don�t get much better than that. I know half the country is happy today and half is disappoined (I know that is putting it way too mildly.) To all, I would just like to say the words we have all recited hundreds of times. Please try to remember, after all is said and done, that we are still: One Nation
Under God
IndivisibleTO those of you who do not believe in God, we are still one nation. Let�s just prove that to the rest of the world. Later,
Cosmic
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