Reflections of an Election Judge
By Bill Bedor
The alarm goes off. It 4:45 a.m. and after you finally get oriented, you realize today is the Super Bowl of election judging, the Presidential election. You know that, if your luck is bad today, you might not be done with the process until early the next day. The journey has started with a declaration of party, an appointment by the city council, an assignment to a precinct, and several hours of training. The declaration and assignment are important, because the law requires an even split between parties at each polling place and teams of two judges from different parties to perform many of the functions during the day. You realize, after becoming a part of the system, how fair Minnesota’s election system can be and, yet, how many potential flaws it has as well.
With nearly 1900 registered voters, our polling place has 14 judges. Arriving at 6:00 a.m. to prepare for opening the poll at 7:00, it takes real effort on the part of all fourteen to assemble booths, post instructions, prepare rosters, and set up the ballot counter for action. During the day, no one leaves. Depending on the length of the lines, breaks are short. You bring your own food for two meals. Or in some precincts, judges make a social affair of the day by bringing pot luck and other treats. Today, nearly 1900 people will vote, of which 300 will be by absentee ballot and 300 more by taking advantage of Minnesota’s “Same Day Registration” law. That registration law will become the focus of the entire process where challenges to a voter’s right to vote can occur and voter fraud can happen. Challengers from the political parties are at the polls specifically to insure registrations are legitimate.
The law is very specific regarding the type of identification that is required in order to register on Election Day. The best, of course, is a Minnesota Driver’s License with a current address. However, absent the current address, specific utility bills in the voter’s name with a current address can help. Absent all this, a registered voter in the precinct can vouch that the voter is a resident. To a great extent, the process is based on the honor system. One person wishing to register without proper documentation turned to the woman behind her in line and said, “Can you vouch for me?” When asked whether that person know the voter, the woman replied, “I’ve never seen this person before in my life.” Another, not having a voucher with him, and stating that he didn’t know anyone in the area because he had just moved to Minnesota from North Dakota, turned up 5 minutes later with a voucher. Obviously, he had recruited someone at random in the parking lot. In this election in particular, passions ran high and people were willing to do just about anything to vote for their favorite candidate. It was quite obvious to those of us responsible for registering new voters that there were large numbers who had never voted before. Many were way past the age of eighteen. Get-Out-The-Vote efforts by both parties were very effective.
It’s now 8:00 a.m. The police call to inform you that a voter has complained that campaigning is taking place in your parking lot. Time to look very official and head out into the rain. There sits “Moveon.org”, ready to help voters make the right choice. To insure a fair election, you inform them they must move off the premises. They reluctantly pick up their chairs and march out with heads low. Others groups arrive during the day and are also told to move off the polling property. The local police are informed and regular police drive-bys are performed to help the election judges keep the polls free of unlawful politicking.
The ebb and flow of the voting process becomes routine as the day moves on. In our precinct, two thirds of the ballots were cast by noon. By 6:00 P.M., fatigue begins to set in. It’s been twelve hours since the day began and there are many hours remaining. The voters have slowed to a trickle. The after work rush never occurred. As is usually the case, time moves at a snail’s pace when you’re not busy and for the next two hours before the polls close, you watch the clock and make bets on the total number of votes that will be cast in your precinct.
Now, its 8:00 p.m. and the polls are closing. As luck would have it, there is no line and only one voter in the precinct. Under more usual circumstances, a judge would be placed at the end of the line and anyone arriving to vote after 8:00 would be turned away. Not a pleasant chore. Anyone in line at 8:00 is allowed to vote. After the polls close and during the counting process, the public is invited to watch. Surprisingly, no watchers showed this year. Now the absentee ballots can be processed and fed through the ballot counter. Counts are verified. Documents from the day are organized and sealed for their trip to city hall. The results are transmitted to Hennepin County by a wireless connection and are available on the Internet almost immediately.
Sixteen hours after walking through the door, the day has finally ended. Your feet hurt. Your legs ache. But, there is an excitement about having participated in the democratic process in a way that is more intimate than merely voting. As you walk to your car in the dark, never having seen daylight at all that day, you reflect on your decision to get involved. Would you do it again? You bet, in a heartbeat. There is no wonder some judges are celebrating more than 35 years at the polls.
