I went for my Board of Elections Poll Worker Training yesterday. I went on Monday, but it was canceled, nobody told me till I got there. It was quite different than I thought. I often hear about a shortage of poll workers and expected a room full of trainees. Instead, there was one other trainee and three instructors. The other trainee has already worked the polls, I was the rookie. I thought most of the training would be on procedures on how to deal with voters; I’m sure that’s how it used to be. Now most of the time was spent learning about the voting technology. The first thing we were taught was how to use the device to allow people with disabilities to vote. It’s quite versatile it can help people with visual and physical disabilities so that they can vote with minimal help from others. They vote on screens that have several ways of making it easier to read, and headphones for those that can’t see at all. There are controls labeled in brail. For those that can’t handle that or lack the manual dexterity needed to vote there are paddles than they can control with a hand or foot. One corresponds to scroll and the other to left click. For those that can use that there is a puffer control that is used by either inhaling or exhaling into a tube. I was quite impressed. The person in charge of that has the easiest job as it isn’t used that often, but there is a lot to know. We don’t have to memorize everything; we’ll have our manuals with us.
Then we learned about using the scanner. That is all about security measures. Don’t worry about ballot shenanigans, there are security features on top of security features. Half the job is opening seals and reclosing them. Each seal is unique, and we must make sure the numbers match. Nobody is tampering with them. Every step along the way is verified by the poll watchers from the Democratic and Republican parties.
Lastly, we discussed the pad that has all the voter information. There are no more paper records. They emphasized that we are not allowed to ask for ID. When I voted on City Island the person, I checked in with always asked for ID. She wouldn’t listen when I said it was illegal and proceeded to ask everyone else for ID. I’m still mad about it and talked about it with one of the trainers. I have voted early or by mail since those options were given. There is a new system in place. The voter is mailed a card with a bar code. That’s scanned and all their info comes up. All they have to do is sign the pad. The pad decides if the signature matches. If it doesn’t only then can we ask for ID. They do their best to make it fool proof, they want to let everyone vote.
After the training we had to take an open book test. It had to be open book as some questions area about where to find things in the manual. That’s what the test is really about, seeing if we can use the manual. I tried to not be cocky and rely on my memory but for a few things I did, like when we can ask for ID. It’s only when the pad tells us we must ask for ID. In the future I’d like to do the training. That’s exactly the kind of thing I’m good at.
The worst part of working the polls are the hours. We have to get there at 5 AM and stay until well after the polls close at 9 PM. I hope I at least get a polling place that’s easy to get to, preferably walking distance. I better not make plans for the night before. My long stints volunteering at WFUV provided good training.
I walked to and from training, stopped for my free donut on the way home, and picked up a prescription which is in the opposite direction. I walked 4.6 miles. I was hoping it would be over 5 miles. When I got home, I made dinner, Philly Cheesesteak again and watched the movie, The Game. It was in a list of best films to watch on Netflix. Save yourself the time and don’t watch it. I would like to go to the Irish Session at Mary O’s tonight but I have so many plans coming up that I’ll probably skip it. I have gone from spending every night at home to going out most nights. I’m not going to eat breakfast now. I got only five hours of sleep so now it’s nap time.
Wise Madness 