Monday night, I sat in the Arlington County Library Auditorium and took the two hour class on how to be an election worker. I learned how to read the pollbook, how to identify a legitimate ID (hint, your utility bill can work, in a pinch.) and where all the checks and balances in the process lie. I even learned that if you’re not on the pollbook, you can still vote a provisional ballot, which get examined the next day. I learned how to set up a touchscreen voting machine, even if I don’t think they’re all that secure, or all that reliable.
Overall, it’s an intense process. What gives me faith in our system is the process sheets that I was given. The documentation for an election is incredible. Signatures. Checks and Balances. Cards. People. Criteria. Benefit of the Doubt. The process behind elections is what make them great, not whether or not you’re voting on a touchscreen or on a paper ballot, or yanking on a lever.
Become part of the process. Your faith in elections is faith in people, and working on election day is part of that process.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
