Here comes the judge!
Hello, dear friends.

I'm sorry I've been so busy that I've let LJ fall off my routine. In just half an hour, I leave for my new post as election judge! Details below the cut:

In my quest for work, I signed up to be an election judge. I'm not sure why we're called "judges", but we're the people who run the polling places. There are different positions to greet and check ID, verify eligibility to vote, generate voting cards off the computer, paper and provisional ballots if needed, demo the electronic voting machines, run the machines, etc. I volunteered and eventually got the position of "troubleshooter judge", which means I set up the machines today (gulp, in about an hour from now!) and take them down Wednesday, and do whatever position or help as required on Tuesday. I have to know the details of each position. To that end, I have a notebook from my training class that weighs more than my bike. I've been studying it.

I'm also one of the three people at my vote center authorized to sign the paper-trail records for the ballots at our vote center, and return the ballots and memory cards to the election headquarters at day's end. The safety check in the system is that you have to have 2 judges of different parties signing at each step. It's not a foolproof method because a Republican could sign up as a Democrat or vice versa, but it's an attempt to be honest. Most Americans don't trust our voting process with good reason (see my note below), and this is one of the reasons I wanted to become more educated about it. There are many forms to complete and processes to learn, but it still relies upon the honesty of the individual judges at each polling place. I'm hoping for a landslide so the fraud that will undoubtedly occur will be drowned out.

Tues will be a 16-hour day for me, I'm sure. If I'm still alive at the end of it, I'll pop over to my phone-call party hostess's house to watch the returns. She is a truly inspiring lady who brings out the best in people. I've been attending her Thursday Obama-calling parties for over a month, and have been fascinated by the way the conversation with the undecided voters we're calling has changed over the weeks. You can really feel it. Also, she sets out a nice spread of goodies, and we all bring wine. At the end of the evening, we sit and chat and discuss the calls that night and inevitably drift into other subjects-- science, history, women's rights, education, on and on. That first evening, after most of the callers had gone home, I looked at the die-hards who were left discussing astronomy (as it happened). There was the black couple (our hosts), the Hispanic couple, the Asian guy from next door (who supports McCain), and a white guy and white gal-- me. And I thought, "This is how America should be. This gathering reflects the best in us."

Anyway, our wonderful hostess is going to have an election night party probably going on into the wee hours. Although we've always drunk wine after completing our calls, on election night she wants to drink scotch! What a party that will be. I think I'll bring wine anyway, and mellow out to the good news. :)



This has been an exciting and challenging year for me in so many ways, but one of my chief joys has been working to get a truly inspiring leader (as well as competent support for him) elected to public office. I've been canvassing once or twice a week and phone-calling every Thursday. It's really interesting to talk to people all across the political spectrum, because I can genuinely appreciate where people are coming from. (I also get the opportunity to correct some misconceptions.) The truth is, people's real-life decisions can't be reduced to soundbites. I feel as if I know my fellow Americans much better as a result of this work.

I also just want to say how proud I am of my state of Colorado. According to one site, 68% of all people who voted in 2004 have already cast their ballots in 2008! We still have lots of new voters this cycle (or would if our partisan Secretary of State Mike Coffman would stop illegally purging voters from Colorado's rolls after the deadline in defiance of court order), but 68% of our regular voters voting early--!!! What a tremendous turnout. I'm so proud of us. I hope the jerks like Coffman who poison the process for all of us go down in a huge landslide of America crying "Enough!"

Best wishes to us all on Tuesday. Love,
Mariole