Being unemployed, I decided to spend my election day as a poll worker in Los Angeles.
(Boy am I glad I didn’t watch this happen live on TV.)
My day started a little after 6:00 AM and I got home about 9:30 PM PST. The polls opened at 7AM but we had the first person line up to vote about 6:30. From 7 to about 11:30 we processed about one voter per minute, not counting provisional ballots and people who dropped of their vote-by-mail ballots in person. I heard only person complain about the time spent standing on line and I didn’t hear how long she waited.
The best part for me was seeing the first time voters. For some it was the first chance to vote after turning 18; others were obviously immigrants who had family along to help them vote. My favorite was an Italian lady who gave me a “Gratzia” as I took her ballot and who lit up when I replied “Ciao!” as she turned to leave. (On our suggestions to the registrar we asked for an Armenian speaker to assigned to us next time if available cause we sure could have used one.)
We didn’t bother the people who wanted selfies (as long as they didn’t photograph the actual ballot) since the spirit of the law is to prevent harassment, not to prevent memorializing an important moment.
As to the old hands who were voting: I saw the assortment of persons that make “e pluribus unum” real. One on-duty police officer, one obviously stoned dude who stated he just wanted to vote for President and for Prop 64 (you guessed it: to legalize pot). There were a few folks wearing some form of rainbow regalia.
Needless to say I was plum tuckered out when I got home. So I took a hot shower and slept like a rock. Sadly, reality hit Wed. morning. This is late getting published cause I’m still in shock.
Thanks for reading.