The last vestige of civility between our two political parties can be found on election days. At the polls, Democrats and Republicans work well together in the name of democracy.
We certainly do a lot better than Congress. Perhaps they should take notes.
Every time I work as an election inspector, I think how impossible it is to steal one.
There is no way to stuff the ballot box in New York.
I find myself wondering if the people who’ve been suckered by Trump might change their minds about 2020, if only they’d work an election.
But maybe not. Absolutely no one wants to admit they’ve been suckered.
In New York, we work with a voting system that has several sets of controls: voter check in, and signature comparison with no fewer than one Democrat and one Republican signing off on each signature. Once the ballot is given out, the voter’s name enters the poll pad tally, which is a little iPad. Then the voter goes to the machine and casts their ballot.
The number of ballots in the machine must match the number printed on the voting machine tape report at the end of the night, and that number must match the number in the polling pad and our hand tally. Every single bag, every handle of the bag, every bit of the voting machine has secure seals or locks. They must be recorded and kept, then at the end of the night we replace those seals, which are also recorded.
All my fellow election inspectors take the job seriously. Things can go wrong, and when they do, we give the voter an affidavit ballot. The amount of time it takes to cast one and the process of doing so is long. We put affidavit votes in a bag which has a slot like a mailbox. It cannot be stuffed. It’s sealed at the end of the night, and the seal number is recorded.
We all work to make sure every vote is valid, counted, and secure. And when I’m tasked with helping an elderly Republican put their ballot in the machine, it feels good. I remember my belief that all Americans have the right to cast their vote by their conscience.
It feels like democracy in those moments. I don’t want democracy to disappear.
Rational people know the 2020 presidential election wasn’t stolen. But I do wish more rational people would come vote in primaries.
Twenty-one voters showed up at my table yesterday.
My shift started at 5 am and the polls closed at 9 pm. Sixteen Democrats in my district and ward voted. That’s one per hour.
Granted, it was merely the presidential primary. We were only voting on who we’d like to lead the nation.
I hate to bring it up, but for the amount of complaining we all do about how awful everything is, you’d think our participation rate would be higher.
It wasn’t just my ward. When I went to vote at my polling place, I was the first voter at the table. The polls had been open for over four hours.
I suspect people didn’t come out to vote because they think it doesn’t matter. Everyone has given up. Biden will be nominated, and so will Trump. But throwing up our hands and saying some idiocy like,
It is what it is…
…isn’t exactly a pathway to change.
I used to believe that to do something, I needed to feel like it. That isn’t the case.
I never want to wake up at 3:30 in the morning on three hours sleep after I just drove back from Virginia, to go sit in some high school gym for sixteen hours. I know, it’s a run-on sentence but it’s been a run-on couple of days.
I choose to show up because I need to be able to live with myself. Sometimes, but not always, showing up is enough.
If everyone just did a little more than nothing, I think we’d be living in a different nation.
I was lucky enough to attend the inauguration of Barack Obama. Washington is not my favorite city on earth. I grew up an hour south of it. The vibe isn’t great.
That day, the vibe was pure joy. Hope.
We stood for seven hours in the cold of January to see Obama sworn in. It was more than worth it. His beautiful little daughters in their brightly colored coats made me cry. The Mall was packed with what seemed like endless people radiating spectacular energy. It was a wonderful day to be an American, standing with other Americans. I’ll never forget it.
It’s a day I remember best by the way I felt, not what I saw or heard.
Being an election inspector does have its rewards. I met a delightful woman yesterday. Then she ran into one of her neighbors, and I listened while the two women talked about their building and co-op board.
The neighbor reminded me of a diminutive Ann Richards. She was originally from West Virginia, but like me, loves living in New York.
The mini Ann Richards said,
“I can feel a Republican on the elevator.”
I mean come on. That’s good. That sentence is worth at least eight of those sixteen hours.
I look around the political landscape and despair. How do people like Matt Gaetz get elected? How on earth can that sad sack Trump be nominated? Why is everything so nonsensical? Why do we keep talking, talking, talking about change without changing? How in the cornbread hell do we still lack Medicare for All?
Well, they’ve got us. By they, I mean big business. I suppose your time is wasted just like mine: watching stupid videos on YouTube (I’m showing my age, I don’t do TikTok), purchasing stuff I don’t need on Amazon, and playing New York Times puzzles every morning. My entire day is determined by how well I do at Connections.
All to say, I spend a lot of time on my phone.
I remember as a kid watching something on TV. A guy with a camera started to take a photograph of an indigenous person, and some other guy stopped him and said,
“No, don’t do it. They think if we take their photo we’re stealing their soul.”
It seemed superstitious. And yet here we are.
I hesitate to point out any of this. Sanctimonious people are the most tedious on earth. I don’t know if I should write about my experience yesterday because I fear sanctimony. I also worry I’m waving a flag that reads,
Look at me, I’m virtuous!
But I promise you, I’m not. I’m awful. However, I am practical.
I’ve learned the hard way I can’t survive without other humans. We need each other. I’m not above the fray and never will be. I’m as human as they come.
As much as I’d like to believe I could stay home alone in my cozy bedroom (with regular long walks outside) it’s very dangerous to do so. Because while I’m home alone, happy as a clam, others are up to no good.
They’re bounding out of bed trying to become the dickiest dictator the world has ever seen.
I have to leave my bat cave and participate.
The RNC has a new question for potential hires:
I can scarcely believe this level of insanity. It’s terrifying.
I don’t do a lot for our democracy, but this is my point: just do a little more than nothing.
I think people mistakenly believe that canvassing or voter registration are things done by happy people with a good attitude. This isn’t the case, because I show up, and I’ve never been accused of having a good attitude.
If you want to know what doing a little more than nothing looks like, start by voting in every primary, in every state and local election.
I’m not worried about the results of the November election, because I feel certain Trump will lose. If Kansas can overwhelmingly vote to keep the right to an abortion in their Constitution, it means more than one Republican woman will be voting for Biden.
But I’ve always maintained the peril of Trump is not in his winning the election. All he had to do was run.
When I was writing about January 6th a friend made what I thought an excellent observation: just as Crimea was a warmup for Putin invading Ukraine, January 6th may well have been a warmup for what happens this November.
In short, I fear a coup. And I hope the Biden administration fears it as well and makes plans for a response. This is not the time for cheerful optimism.
There’s a punchline I keep forgetting. It goes like this:
The GOP is off the rails. But if we can’t even be bothered to show up and vote, if we can’t do the barest of minimums to stop them, we are just as responsible for this mess.
He’s one guy, and his supporters are outnumbered.
Show up.
one of your best! Hope you're well
I serve in similar national elections here in New Zealand. It's so different than what you describe. For one thing, no one who comes in to vote is denied a vote. Even drunks and obnoxious People (of which there are few) get to cast a vote. It's slightly festive, but with an air of seriousness and scrutiny. We don't have primaries as such, they are organized by the parties themselves. National elections take place every 3 years and attract about 80%. I've also worked in the post voting stage where the official count takes place. Although errors do occur, usually they involve some administrative mistake, rather than an attempt to cheat anyone. All counts have to be the same 2 times in a row. Once I sat at a table for more than 4 hours, recounting over and over before we managed to fullfill that requirement. Crazy, ehh?