Uber Tuesday

Uber Tuesday!

I expected poll working to be the thing old people would enjoy because obviously old people enjoy doing things that bore people to death. I was eventually proven wrong as the day progressed, more tasks were required, more people came in, and more fun blossomed in the little cafetorium of Hillgrove Education Center. I also had the luck of working at a double precinct polling place and I can proudly say, I was an Orange Table Multilingual Poll Worker slash clerk.

There, I worked with the Bradshaw family; Debra, Joseph, Elizabeth and those who weren’t part of this family; Nancy and Lisa. The whole family lived a few blocks from me and they were long time residents of the heights, also Los Altos High Alumni. As we worked, I turned on Michael Bubble music. I was hoping it would appeal to the older gals in my poll working team, and it sure did. We started singing and dancing a bit as voters came in smiling and happy to vote. It seemed more like a get together for the whole neighborhood more than anything else.

I realized that only 1/3 of the people showed up for elections. We went through 3 stacks of Democrat ballots, one pack of Republican ballots, ONE Peace and Freedom Ballot, and One American independent, and half a stack of Nonpartisan ballots. I was the youngest, of course, but I also knew more about everything and I was a fast learner and a worker of course. At several times in the day, I manned two, three, four posts at the same time: sign in, name cross-out, ballots, stickers and the machine. I also had to do provisional ballots since a lot of people had their parties switched which made a few people irritated, but most were quite happy they’re voting.

The day passed by rather quickly and I had a lot of fun talking about what I do, and what everyone does outside of this little voting heaven of ours. The many alumni that were part of the polling teams graduated from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and most recent years in 2000, I had my laptop with me, so we watched Los Altos videos and listened to music while they talk about their experiences in the past here in the Heights and at Los Altos. That was quite interesting having all these generations working together to fulfill each other’s civic duty WHILE reminiscing on the history of Hacienda Heights and their alma mater. A handful of people really want their stickers when they vote, but there weren’t any huge problems with people threatening to kill you for sticker, overall, that was the grand prize of voting. It’s not being able to be heard, it’s really about that half inch sized sticker that you can affix to your chest as a badge to tell the world that you count,

As night fell, crowds of people began showing up to vote bringing with them families. It was a good thing families came altogether so it was easier to mark everyone with the same last name off, but it’s was also a bad thing since making sure they signed under their name only was something that held the line back. As we finished up checking in and helping the last few voters with the voting procedures; last voter came in at 7:56pm, we screamed “The Polls Are Now Closed!!!!” out to the deserted parking lot and dismantled everything within five minutes. We ripped ballots and counted them, packed everything up, and finished everything in an hour. Overall, this was a day I’d remember. I had no regrets contrary to my previous premonitions of poll working. In fact, I am looking forward to fulfilling these duties whenever possible and to cash in an extra bounty every time.