...of an exit poll worker.
6:30 a.m. Leave the house adorned in 'professional clothes'. Haven't really owned any of those for say 8 years now, but made do.
6:45 a.m. Realize the address for the precinct I was to poll was incorrect. Thankfully I am very good with Spanish Fork geography and find the correct school.
7:00 a.m. Try not to say bad words as I see where I am to stand to approach voters. OUTSIDE. IN THE STORM. Now my very handy training manual said to be prepared for the weather, but since my polling place was a school I figured there would be plenty of room inside for me to accost voters. However, this particular polling place had a setup which allowed no room between voting and the exit door. The only way to catch them once they were done voting was to stand outside in the elements. Which were not favorable.
8:11 a.m. Look at my watch and try not to cry as the wind picks up and my toes lose all feeling and my 'professional' hair gets less professional looking.
9:10 a.m Dear sister, CC, arrives with her winter coat and some hefty boots which ruins my professional appearance but I don't care. And I still want to cry because I have 11 more hours of this.
10:00 a.m. Rain, snow, sleet, blizzard, or whatever you want to call it hits and I hightail it inside to wait it out. Sorry networks. Nobody is telling me all their voting secrets while standing outside in a storm.
10:45 a.m. Election worker realizes that the voter turnout is sparse enough to not warrant such strict traffic control and allows people to exit from an interior door which means, yay! I can come inside!
11:00 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Politely approach every 4th voter and ask them to fill out my survey. Meet lots of nice people. Meet some not-so-nice people. Ate a baggy of gummy worms and Mother's Cookies delivered by lifesaver CC. Felt like I earned every penny of that check Edison-Mitofsky is going to send me.
The end. Hub is super and took the day off of work to be Mr. Mom. I didn't even leave him a very long note because I knew how competent he was. (He even tried to put Noelle's hair in pigtails but gave up after the first one failed.) I did have many moments of 'Why the heck am I doing this?' as I do every election year when I end up working at the polls. But this was a slightly different scene and I wouldn't have to set up those stinkin' voting machines. Or maybe I have a chemical imbalance that makes me think it would be fun. Who knows? Can't wait for 2012 to do it all over again....
8 comments:
Don't they realize that instead of giving a woman the address they are supposed to give her landmarks!
I am sorry your conditions were not preferable. too bad it wasn't am kindergarten dance day I could have beverageized you.( that's a good word)
Good Work Megan! What an experience at least in such a historical election.
I really wish I remembered to bring my camera, but no. I admire your staying power and hope the $$ comes soon so we can buy us stuff.
you are a trooper!
and yay to stephanie for her use of the word beverageized, I think it's a keeper!
I like that you were rescued by your sister. Sisters are terrific. Good for you for braving asking people to fill out a survey -- maybe I'll be nice to someone now if they ever ask me even though I won't want to fill it out.
What a harsh day...ugh! Glad you survived, hope your feet don't look like Mr. Deeds' : ) HOpe you've seen that movie!
My kids heard LOTS of negative things about Barack at school so now when they repeat them I have to reassure them that he is NOT a "bad guy" and WILL be our president so we need to have faith all will be well!
I'm feeling cold and wanting hot chocolate now. What a long day. Way to do your part and good job cc for helping out. You'll definitely have to go $$-ping together.
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