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*tap* *tap* Is this mic on still?
Dec. 25th, 2024 03:24 pmOK, it's been ... two months and a few days.
All eight days of early voting ... a long blur of nearly round-the-clock activity. Of course, we didn't have much in the way of "a primary" back in the spring; the U.S. Senate contests were the only exciting things on the Maryland ballots then. But our quadrennial presidential elections bring voters out of the woodwork.
During early voting I spent all eight days at the same-day registration station. It amazes me how people move around and do NOT bother to get their address changed on their driver's licenses, or even get licenses from their new state of residence. It isn't rocket science. I was glad that a couple of the other election judges could translate between Spanish and English, but at times I could have used Korean and Amharic speakers. Our county is SO diverse!
Over the eight days of early voting, we registered 208 people to vote, and we also checked in dozens of regular voters when the check-in judges were busy. I say "we" because I usually had at least one same-day registration judge sitting with me. On most of the days I was paired with an elderly woman who was born in Belize and who refuses to celebrate Halloween because the holiday "glorifies demons." You meet all kinds of people at the polling place.
On Election Day itself, I couldn't do both provisional-ballot work and same-day registration, so I had to explain the same-day stuff to other judges and work the provisional ballot table. I think I had something like 55 provisional voters, which is a LOT for a small precinct with mostly single-family homes. I had a few who were military folks with out-of-state driver's licenses.
Needless to say, the presidential election results hit me like a giant gut punch and I spent the rest of the month in mourning. Of course, this didn't mix well with my need to get my feature article written by November 18. I felt as if I was just going through the motions.
When choosing the deadline months ago, I had assumed that Holiday Faire, an annual event in the Barony of Stierbach, would be held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. For whatever reason, though, this year it was held on the Saturday before the Saturday before Turkey Day, so I had to skip it. Philcon, though, was on the weekend before Thanksgiving, but no way was I going to go to that and listen to 48 hours of R. crowing that the Orange Poopyhead will bring me SO many job opportunities. He sent me SO much crap from Breitbart and the NY Post with his own vaguely racist comments appended. I have been questioning my 40-year friendship with him.
There's a lot more, but the early holiday dinner is almost ready. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, and I hope you had a Good Solstice too.
All eight days of early voting ... a long blur of nearly round-the-clock activity. Of course, we didn't have much in the way of "a primary" back in the spring; the U.S. Senate contests were the only exciting things on the Maryland ballots then. But our quadrennial presidential elections bring voters out of the woodwork.
During early voting I spent all eight days at the same-day registration station. It amazes me how people move around and do NOT bother to get their address changed on their driver's licenses, or even get licenses from their new state of residence. It isn't rocket science. I was glad that a couple of the other election judges could translate between Spanish and English, but at times I could have used Korean and Amharic speakers. Our county is SO diverse!
Over the eight days of early voting, we registered 208 people to vote, and we also checked in dozens of regular voters when the check-in judges were busy. I say "we" because I usually had at least one same-day registration judge sitting with me. On most of the days I was paired with an elderly woman who was born in Belize and who refuses to celebrate Halloween because the holiday "glorifies demons." You meet all kinds of people at the polling place.
On Election Day itself, I couldn't do both provisional-ballot work and same-day registration, so I had to explain the same-day stuff to other judges and work the provisional ballot table. I think I had something like 55 provisional voters, which is a LOT for a small precinct with mostly single-family homes. I had a few who were military folks with out-of-state driver's licenses.
Needless to say, the presidential election results hit me like a giant gut punch and I spent the rest of the month in mourning. Of course, this didn't mix well with my need to get my feature article written by November 18. I felt as if I was just going through the motions.
When choosing the deadline months ago, I had assumed that Holiday Faire, an annual event in the Barony of Stierbach, would be held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving. For whatever reason, though, this year it was held on the Saturday before the Saturday before Turkey Day, so I had to skip it. Philcon, though, was on the weekend before Thanksgiving, but no way was I going to go to that and listen to 48 hours of R. crowing that the Orange Poopyhead will bring me SO many job opportunities. He sent me SO much crap from Breitbart and the NY Post with his own vaguely racist comments appended. I have been questioning my 40-year friendship with him.
There's a lot more, but the early holiday dinner is almost ready. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, and I hope you had a Good Solstice too.
