Tuesday, September 13, 2016

An Uncharacteristically Early Start

Today, I start work right around the time I typically get home from work. I usually have Tuesdays off, but my workplace is a polling site and we are hosting primary elections today. The poll workers are scheduled to arrive at 5:30AM, and the polls open at 6. We usually have the same crew, a nice bunch of people which includes one of my part-time co-workers. When they arrive, I will help them find the proper wall outlets for the optical scanning voting machines (I do miss the old mechanical ones, to be honest). It's a 12-hour day for me, but it's pretty cushy... after the initial 'roadie' work, I pretty much hang around and answer questions as needed, or just shoot the breeze with people. In actuality, though, it'll be a good day to catch up on expense reports and to work on the schedule for October, our busiest month- there's always something to do.

I prepared for the day by succumbing to trendiness and cold brewing a quart of concentrated coffee. Still, tonight at bar trivia, I think I'll be nodding into my beer.

UPDATE: The poll workers are a mixed bag- about half is the old crew, the remaining half is split between workers at other poll sites and brand-new poll workers. As a representative of the hosts, I have a good sense of 'institutional memory'- I know where the outlets are, I know the 100' 'no electioneering' limit (though I always ask them to verify, as a CYA measure).

As I unlocked the back doors of the building, mainly to prevent anyone from getting locked out, I noticed that there were some cleaning supplies right outside, then I remembered that we had a cleaning crew come yesterday to pressure wash the outside of the greenhouse that our food concession uses as a cafe. They didn't quite finish the job, so I have been informed, and need to return today. Something tells me that it's going to be an interesting day. Our gift shop management did something smart, though- they will be open for most of the day, so people can spend some money after casting their vote.

SECOND UPDATE: In a move which surprised nobody, She Who Must Not Be Ignored, the divalicious Ginger, made an appearance at the polls:




Of course, one of the poll workers is allergic, so I had to entice Ginger out of the building with some kibble.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

So do y'all do your Presidetial primaries on one day earlier in the year and then have the primaries for everything else now?

Wouldn't it be cheaper and easier to do all your primaries on the same day? We do that in Texas (since I just said "y'all", my home state should come as no surprise)?

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

We have a weird patchwork of municipalities- unincorporated towns, incorporated villages, hamlets, the like. This is strictly a local election. If my memory serves me correctly, a total of four elections were/are/will be on the calendar at our site this year... every one 'crashed' by the cat.

ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said...

Ginger is such a diva! She must NOT be ignored!
~

Big Bad Bald Bastard said...

She is one funny beast. She can be VERY vocal. She wandered into the room in which the voting machines were set up and started rolling around, acting cute. LOOK AT ME!