I spent most of the evening over in Albany at some in person training. In a moment of what? Insanity, patriotism, boredom, curiosity? Not sure exactly what, I followed a link in one of the Veteran related emails and volunteered to be an election worker for this coming November. I do know several of you do this on an every election basis.
The first time I saw the inside of a voting center was this past by-election. Prior to that, it had been in Minnesota before we moved oversea in 1981. And that my friends was the era of printed ballots, hanging chads (the little things that get punched out of the pre-scored holes in the old punch cards), and centers that made no exceptions or assistance.
Today there have been many positive changes in the US – most of the as a result of lawsuits. The centers now have to be accessible for those who have mobility challenges, signage is clear, the local common languages have to be available, and others by phone in translation.
(an aside. If you become a citizen, you have to learn English. There is no such requirement if you are born here. Even if you CAN speak, read, and write English, there is no requirement to use it if you don’t want to. Obviously in a country that runs on a common law system has had the changes forced by whomever has been vocal about what they need/want/see as their right. Almost all the changes have been a result of the court system rather than by law.).
Back to this evening. First there was a couple of hours of required on-line training. It wasn’t hard, it was extremely boring, and made me realize that check lists were the only way everyone was going to get it right. This lovely session was followed by a three hour in person session that I attended in Albany only a couple of miles from the house.
Finding the place wasn’t hard, there were about 20 of us there for the training. Checked in, handed step by step manuals, and about 45 minutes of going over essentially what was in the on-line training.
The fun part followed – hands on setting up all the equipment, seeing how it was used, then all the logs, resets, and taking it apart again. The room was large and echoing, Three of the four in my group all agreed that the lighting was poor and the printing on the various computer screens was too tiny to easily see. After a few hours on my feet, my back wasn’t a happy camper. Oh well.
The weather outside was lovely and the moon looked one day off full as I wandered along to the car and drove home.
