Odd To Vote On A Friday

I received my Commissioner training on Friday. The scoop on the job is much different than I thought. Myself and 60 or so other people report to the County Clerk's office at 6am Tuesday. Yes that means I'm awake at Oh'Dark Hundred to get downtown in time. I will pair up with a commissioner of the other party and we will be a team the entire day. The entire point of this is bipartisan teamwork.

Together we will get a large paper shopping bag full of large white envelopes and a list of precient addresses. The white envelopes will hold all the absentee ballots that are supposed to go to the precient. The list of addresses has already been routed out in the order we'll want to deliver them (some guy had a good time with map last week). My team will hop into a waiting cab (approx 6:15) and we start delivering the live absentee ballots to the corresponding precient. We are to NEVER leave the ballots unescorted.

At said polling place we find the Inspector and give him/her the envelope. Inspector will whip out a list of names in the envelope and then make sure that all the absentee ballots match the names on the list. Upon confirmation the Inspector signs the list and gives it back to us. Team Brian then goes to the next precient on the list and we do it all day! We, all 70 or so of us, have the responsibility to get around 23,000 absentee ballots to the proper places. Wow! When we want lunch we just tell the cab driver to stop at whatever MickeyD's, Taco Hell, or sub joint is nearby.

IF we get done early, we are to report back and see if we need to deliver any ballots that arrived in the mail that Tuesday. This will easily be a 6am to 6pm day if not longer. Oh yeah I get paid $70 for the honor of protecting democracy.

Since the bipartisan team HAS to be always together to make sure nothing funny happens to the ballots, the question did come up of what happens if you're paired with a member of the opposite sex and someone has to go to the bathroom? Let's just say we're going unisex for the day if that occurs. Aside from the bathroom issue, have I mentioned my greatest fear is something going horribly wrong and I don't get home until 2am?
Since I'll be gone all Election Day I voted in the Clerk's office (hence creating an absentee ballot that must be delivered by a commissioner on Tuesday). Had I been thinking ahead I would have brought my checklist as I couldn't quite remember who I wanted for the lesser offices. I know Surveyor, Coroner, and whatnot are important to the people running for those offices, but I'll be honest: I DON'T CARE! I think I put the pen to the correct ovals. That office was insanely busy with absentee voters and a few people getting marriage licenses. One couple appeared to be 20 years old, had the veil, flowers, and two friends with them. It didn't help that a few television crews were there to record the chaos for the evening news.

Anyone want to make predictions on WHEN we'll know who the president will be? One friend is saying Friday. What is your prediction?

UPDATE: It appears one of those TV crews caught me voting and I made the news. I've been inform it was focused right on me as I was voting. The camera was about 40 feet away so those zoom lens are good. On TV and in the newspaper, I'm EVERYWHERE now!