I was voter 34 today at one of my city’s 2 early voting locations.
I missed the window to get back to poll management for this cycle, but my wife and I had a really moving experience being up early and doing our civic duty.
She asked a ton of questions about the behind-the-scenes process and we both realized that I miss working at the polls. There’s really nothing like asking the first voter of the day to certify with you that the ballot boxes are empty & counting machines are at zero. Or posting the day’s tally on the door after closing up a long day of helping people navigate the process.
Our system isn’t perfect. It’s got systemic and disheartening flaws. But it’s also really, really cool.