My Day Working The Polls

It's the moment you've all been waiting for - my recap of working at the polls on election day. I hope it lives up to your expectations because I'm not even sure I can remember every detail of the day and this is already going down as one of the longest posts of all time. 

On Tuesday (November 6) morning, I woke up around 4:30 and got my shower and got ready for the day. I had packed up my backpack the night before as well as baked some pumpkin bread and chocolate chip cookies for us to snack on throughout the day. I also took a bag of Hershey's bars (left over from Halloween) and some crackers. I was out the door by 10 til six and at the precinct about two minutes later. It was a cold and rainy morning and we had to wait on someone from the church to arrive and unlock the doors.

We were inside by 6:00 and started to set up right away. I had printed out some signs that said "A thru L" and "M thru Z" as my plan was to divide the alphabet so that we could get more people through the line. I also had planned on us using two clerk's books and two voters' books and had an email from the probate judge's office stating that we could have a book at each division of the alphabet. I expected some push back from the old folks on using two books and I was correct. They once again thought that only one book at a time could be used and my email proved otherwise. For those of you who may not be familiar with these books, the clerk's book is where we print the name of the voter and the voter's book is where the voter signs on the corresponding line.

Before we got deep into the throes of setting up the voting machine and signing all the hundreds of items we needed to sign, we took our pledge. We also had a couple of poll watchers show up to observe the goings on of the precinct and they had to be sworn in as well. We got everything set up and ready for opening and a few minutes before seven a third poll watcher showed up. As the inspector started swearing her in, I informed him that she could not be sworn in as only one person from each party was allowed at a precinct, which he did not realize - the first of many rules the inspector was unaware of. The lady was kind enough to leave without any push back as she was also aware of the one person per party poll watcher rule.

We opened the polls at exactly 7:00 a.m. and began marking off names as fast as our fingers would allow. There was a rush of people when the doors opened and soon the line was backed up to get in, to get a ballot and to use a privacy booth. Our inspector had only ordered six privacy booths as he didn't think there would be many people to vote. I finally got so tired of seeing people waiting on a booth and a ballot that I stood up and announced that if they didn't need a privacy booth they were welcome to grab a folding chair from the wall and pull it up to any of the tables, and many people did just that. Finally, about 10:00 a.m. the lines started slowing down and we had a steady stream of people for the remainder of the day, but also a few lulls when there was no one or only one or two people coming in. By the end of the day, things had slowed down considerably and the last hour was very slow with maybe only 20 people coming in. If I never work another election, I will at least know it's better to come in the evening to vote.

We ordered lunch from Steak-Out and it arrived around 11:30 or so. I was finally able to take a break and eat around 1:00 p.m. For dinner, Jackie was kind enough to stop at Subway and get me a sandwich before she headed home for the evening.

Here are some things that happened throughout the day:

I ran into a situation that I never in my life thought about encountering. A young man came in to vote and per the Alabama voter's web site, our precinct was the one in which he was slated to cast his vote; however, he was not listed on our voters' lists. After several attempts to the Board of Registrars office, I was finally able to get through to someone to find out why the young man was not on our voter's list. As it turns out, the young man had recently been convicted of a crime and I was then instructed to call the supervisor of the Board of Registrar's office but I was never able to get through to her. I informed the young man of the situation and asked him if his recent conviction was a felony - his reply was yes. I then told him that persons with a felony record are no longer allowed to cast a vote. He seemed okay with the answer and left without a fight. I will never forget that guy's name or how sad it made me to tell him that he could not vote as a result of his actions.

The poll watchers are not supposed to interact with the voting public; yet, we had one watcher who sat by the voting machine and each time a ballot was marked incorrectly and the machine spit it back out, the poll watcher would stand up and start instructing the voter on what he or she needed to do. I'm here to tell you that I had to bring this to the attention of the inspector on more than one occasion and quite frankly he didn't seem to care. Clearly, he is not as much of a stickler for the rules as I am. After this happened about five or six times, it's a miracle I didn't get up and go off on the inspector. Instead, I just kept reminding him that the watcher needed to sit in silence and leave the voters alone.

The inspector was nowhere to be found any time he was needed. We also us iPads to look up voter information and he doesn't know how to use it, even though he has been to class on the iPad on more than one occasion. Also, any time a phone call needed to be made to the courthouse, he was hesitant to call and either I or someone else ended up doing the calling.

You would not believe how many people show up on voting day wanting to register to vote - the deadline was October 26. You would also not believe the number of people who came in and asked, "I'm not registered, but I want to vote." You would also not believe the number of people who think they can just pop in to any precinct and cast their vote.

We had a lot of people show up at our precinct who vote at another precinct. The district lines were redrawn since the last election so most of the people had voted at our precinct in the past but clearly didn't pay attention to their new voter registration card when they received it in the mail and so they came to our precinct and we had to send them somewhere else. Most of these people voted at precincts close by so it wasn't too big of a deal. We did have to send a handful of folks across town or across the county. One lady who actually works where I do looked up online where she was supposed to vote, but came to our precinct because she just knew that's where she was supposed to vote. When we looked it up, it told us the same place that Google had told her. Why she came to our precinct I have yet to figure out.

Not long after we opened, an older gentleman in a suit and a red hat brought us a bag of hard cinnamon candy. It was super nice of him and was a big help to me because by the time he rolled in around 7:30 a.m., my throat was dry and I was tired of asking people how they were doing and that candy hit the spot and kept me going.

We had a lot of people thank us for being there to work and one man even made an announcement with his booming voice and we received some applause afterwards. That was kind of cool.
I got to see my friend Adam, age 19, vote for the first time in his life. I was at the hospital the day he was born, at his baptism and now watched him cast his first lot in the political arena. He was a late registered voter and on our supplemental list. I was so proud! Way to go Adam! There was another young girl, either 18 or 19, who came in to vote for the first time with her mom. Her mom wanted to take a photo, but there are no photos allowed in the precinct, which was sad for her, but at the same time she was very proud of and excited for her daughter which was nice to see

Towards the end of the day, a man and his daughter came in with a friend. The friend voted in our precinct and the man had given the friend a ride. The daughter tore into the bag of Hershey's I brought and soon was opening the cookies I baked and eating those as well. Then the dad followed suit. One of the other workers headed over and started straightening things up and putting things away so that they wouldn't take anything else. I ended up throwing the rest of the cookies away because, not to be judgmental but, the people didn't look very clean.

There are a lot of stinky and unclean looking people in my precinct. I held my breath on more than one occasion.

I'm sure there are many, many other stories I could tell you about - just ask me the next time I see you. It seems like I remember something new every single day. I think by the end of the day I was kind of in a daze from having been up so long and working non-stop. My hand was cramping from writing so many names and the next day my arm was sore - not even kidding.

At the end of the night, after the polls have closed and the last persons inside the precinct have voted, we open up the machine and take out the ballots and also print tape from the voting machines which provide the results from the precinct. Those ballots that have write-ins go into a separate bin than all the other ballots. The person manning the machine (I could go on for quite a while about this man) took out all the ballots and just threw them in a pile together - in other words, he did not keep the write-ins separate. Now, we have to write in each of the write in votes and turn those in to the probate judge's office. If someone votes for Mickey Mouse, or Elvis, or any other character or dead person, then we still have to count those - they go in one category as "Fictitious". The inspector and every other person there argued with me that we did not have to count those - "just throw them out" is what they said they were told at training. Now, people, if there is one thing I can say about myself it's that in a lecture, I pay attention, take good notes, ask appropriate questions and always come away with more knowledge than when I arrived. I know for a fact that we had to count those votes. I pulled out my notes from class and argued with every one of those people. I finally got out my phone to call the office and the inspector relented and called himself only to find out that I was right. So, we then had to unbox the ballots and separate the write-ins from the others. I still do not think I received all the write-ins because I heard Nick Saban and also Bacon got a vote and I did not see either one of those ballots; but, I did the best I could with what I was given and silently gloated to myself that I was right.

We left the precinct around 8:30 and I was home a few minutes later. The Tide was at my parent's house thanks to my brother's willingness to take care of her while I worked the polls. So, when I got home and changed into some PJs, I crashed on the couch and was out a few minutes after 9:00. I woke up at 12:30 just as the president was going to make a speech. I quickly turned that off and crawled into bed.
It was an exhausting day, y'all, I am not even kidding; but, I loved every minute of it. It was so exciting to see people exercising their right to vote. Our precinct voted 1378 people in the 12 hours we were open. That's an average of 114.8 people per hour! I do plan to bring some of my issues to the attention of the judge's office because I feel like the inspector should be more aware of what is going on and at least know the rules. Other than my few frustrations, it was such an enjoyable day and I cannot wait to do it again in 2014 when we have another round of elections.

Church Retreat Part Two

Saturday morning I woke up about 5:15 – what can I say, I’m a creature of habit. I went ahead and got a shower and got ready for the day which didn’t take long since I let my hair dry naturally and didn’t bring one ounce of make-up with me. I spent the rest of the morning writing and even did some reading for a change. Around 7:00, I moved to the main room to watch television. 

A few minutes later I decided to look up the web site to the lodge on my phone and give the office a call to see if anyone was there. A woman answered right away and I told her about our non-working oven. She called me back within 30 minutes and told me how to turn the oven on – miracle of miracles the light came on and I thought we had an operational oven.

Around 8:00 some of the guys that had volunteered to cook breakfast woke up and meandered into the kitchen to get started. I assisted them some but not a lot as they wanted to do it all on their own. Breakfast burritos were on the menu, which sounded and still sounds completely disgusting to me. Something about rolling breakfast up in a burrito just does not appeal to this Southerner’s senses. The guys cooked up sausage, hash browns and eggs. When the hash browns were done, we put them in a pan to put in the oven which had been on for a good 30 minutes or so and what do you know, the oven was still cold. So, while the guys finished up, I called the office again and they said they would send a maintenance man out after 9:00.

Soon most everyone was awake and breakfast was prayed over and served. I just ate my food separately because again, breakfast burritos – no thanks. When we were all finished and Doug said to clean up so we could get together for a devotional, that’s what happened. The leftover food was thrown out and the dishes washed. Then the next thing we knew Doug was frustrated that the food had been thrown out because not everyone had eaten. The two people that had not eaten were Doug’s wife Jess and another guy Chris. Hey, you snooze you lose. Seriously, who sleeps through the sounds and smells of breakfast? I didn’t even know that was possible.

So, Doug went out and got those two some breakfast from McDonald’s or somewhere and after they ate, we finally got around to having a devotional – at 10:30. It was scheduled for 9:30. I think it’s pretty apparent that there was no accurate timeline during this retreat.

In the meantime, the maintenance man showed up and began to work on repairing the oven. He finished up while we were singing praises to the Lord and left through the back door.

After the morning devotional, most people set out to play games or go for a walk or something productive. Me – well, I settled in front of the TV and began my Saturday ritual of watching football. Lunch was cold cut sandwiches and it was also every man for himself and so around 12:30 – otherwise known as halftime of the Mississippi State game – I prepared myself a sandwich and ate it. I started dozing off during the second half of the State game and so I pulled myself out of the chair I was in and moseyed on into the bedroom for a nap. 

By the time I woke from my nap, the satellite box had been connected to a projector that Doug brought and the picture was being projected onto a white sheet that had been pinned to the wall. Things were looking up – we would not all have to crowd around a 27 inch TV to watch the Alabama game. I watched a few more games while waiting on dinner and the Alabama game to start.

Dinner was scheduled for 5:30 and kickoff for the Alabama game was set for 7:00. Dinner, however, wasn’t ready until a few minutes after 7:00. The Alabama game started on time – such a novel concept. Seriously, everything we did was probably an hour or more behind schedule which drove me bonkers because I work much better on a strict and organized schedule. It’s the one area in which I am most like my mother. Dinner was quite good – pork tenderloin, green beans, mashed potatoes and rolls. After kickoff and when the game went to commercial, I finally got up to fix myself a plate.

I sat in the back of the room because I wanted to make sure I had enough room to get up and pace, jump up and down and curse under my breath if necessary. The Alabama/LSU game has become the best game of the season in my opinion and I knew this was going to be a tough match for the Crimson Tide. Thankfully, after taking about 10 years off my life, Alabama won and kept me from cursing at the church retreat. There were many times when I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest. I went to bed about an hour after the game so the adrenaline could release from my poor soul.

Sunday morning, I was an early riser once again and managed to get a lot of reading in before anyone else woke up. I even packed up all my things and loaded up the car which was nice come leaving time. Breakfast on Sunday was pancakes and cheese grits along with bacon and left over pork tenderloin from Saturday’s dinner and the food was once again really good. We also had communion and a time of sharing with each other about our struggles and needs at this time in our lives. It was a really good morning.

After breakfast we cleaned up the kitchen and the rest of the lodge and then headed out. I got home about 12:15 and had time to get in a TV show before going to the Sunday afternoon prayer service at the church building.

I won’t say it was the best retreat ever, but it also wasn’t a bad time and it provided me with an opportunity to get to know the people in my class better and to make some new friends which was my main reason for going. I look forward to spending more time with these folks and getting to know them even better.

Church Retreat Part One

Before I write about my very interesting day at the polls, I have a couple of posts about the recent church retreat I attended.

So, this past weekend while my sweet baby was in the doggie hospital, I attended a church retreat. It was like a flashback to the late 1990s because other than one or two ladies retreat, which isn’t really the same, this was the first weekend retreat I had been on since my days as an undergrad in Tuscaloosa.  

The retreat was held at the Elk River Lodge between Athens and Rogersville and all the festivities were to begin on Friday evening. We were told we could arrive any time after 5:30 and that dinner would be served at 7:00. After work, I went by the house to finish throwing my things in a bag and then headed out of town. I left the house about 5:15 and arrived at the Lodge a few minutes after 6:00. For some crazy reason I assumed I would be one of the last ones to arrive. As it turns out, I was the first. Well, I guess technically the third since the coordinator and his wife was already there. Everyone else started trickling in around 7:00 or later. Clearly this is not a prompt group.

Doug, the coordinator, was trying to get the grill going to grill burgers for dinner and he had no lighter and asked me if I had one. Um, no. Apparently someone was bringing a lighter but who knew when they were going to show up. Long story short, the dinner that was supposed to be eaten at 7:00 was not served until 8:22. To say I was hungry is quite the understatement.

Before we ate we prayed to bless the food and during the prayer I felt something on my head. I thought maybe a strand of hair had come loose from my ponytail, but no – a granddaddy longlegs had somehow found a home atop my crown. I realized what it was when I knocked it from my head and saw it land on the floor. It is truly a modern day miracle that I did not scream out loud and possibly even curse during that prayer. By the grace of God I was able to hold it together and then about a few seconds later that longlegs met his demise when one of the guys stepped backwards and smooshed him.

The burgers, well, they were subpar, which was a huge disappointment considering that we were told the food was going to be amazing. I guess some folks idea of amazing and mine are on different ends of the spectrum – this is the curse of a good cook.

We then had a small devotional and played a weird game. At this point, I was exhausted and congested and in a word, miserable.  The plan was to next bake cookies in the oven, only the oven would not turn on, which had me a little concerned about how the food situation was going to be for the remainder of the weekend.

It was soon after this that I retired for the evening. Strangely enough I had a room all to myself. We were told before we arrived that some of us may have to share beds yet no one bunked in my room and there was an unused bed throughout the weekend. This was just fine by me though because I could do my own thing on my own time, which is just the way I like it.

To be continued…

Get Out And Vote!

As if you didn't already know, Tuesday, November 6 is the day we Americans go to the polls to decide on our elected leaders for the next two-four years (depending on the office). I have always loved and had a passion for voting. I think it is one of the best privileges and rights we have as Americans.

I don't know about the rest of you, but never in my voting lifetime have I felt that voting is as important as it is this year. I have had a lot of anxiety and concern over what the outcome of this election will be and how our decisions as voters will shape the face of our nation for the next few years. My prayer is that the decisions we make on November 6 will be decisions that will restore our nation to the God fearing country it once was.

Whoever your candidate and whatever your party, please get out and vote on Tuesday! Polls will be open in Alabama from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., and if you work long shifts, please note that your employer cannot prevent you from voting. You have the right to leave work at an appropriate time to in order to make it to the polls before they close. If you are in line at 7:00 p.m.,  you will not be denied your right to vote.

I'll be working at Precinct 3 in Madison County and am excited and nervous about the day. It's sure to be quite an interesting experience and you can bet I will be blogging about it soon.

Get out and vote - be responsible - be the voice of your nation - take your country back!

For those of you in Madison County, AL, click here for a sample ballot. If you are looking for more information regarding the 11 amendments to Alabama's constitution that will be on the ballot, please click here.

Little Mickey's 47th Birthday

Last Thursday was Little Mickey's birthday soiree. This year we all gathered at the Mexican restaurant across from Burger King on Whitesburg. I have no idea what the name of it is; but, the food was good so there's that. Little Mickey turned 47 this year - that is really hard to believe because he is truly a kid at heart and we love him because of it!

Since I did not have to go home to let The Tide out, I worked until 5:30, ran by Target to pick up my prescriptions for my sinus issues and then went to the restaurant. I had planned to also pick up a scary mask for Little Mickey since he loves those, but Target had none. All the Halloween stuff was on clearance of course, but there were no scary masks - weird. I did manage to buy The Tide a witch costume for $3 - talk about a bargain.

Oddly enough it seems we all arrived at the restaurant at the same time. Jan was walking in as I pulled into the parking lot and then Jackie walked in right before I did. Come to think of it they probably rode together, but I don't know. We got settled into our spots at the table after greeting Little Mickey of course. This restaurant has a buffet which is what we all got. Well, everyone but Troy who ate chips and cheese dip - a kid after my own heart. The food, as mentioned, was good, and I was stuffed when all was said and done. I will also say that I thoroughly enjoyed the salsa at this place - it was very good.

Little Mickey got an Alabama shirt and some money as gifts and he was thrilled with all of them. Aunt Nina had gotten Little Mickey a cookie cake and we had that for dessert. It was also quite yummy. I, of course, was stuffed by the time the soiree was over.

As is always the case, it was such a fun night with people that I love dearly. We laughed and talked and laughed some more which always makes for a wonderful time. I look forward to doing it again next year.

Me and Troy at the Party.

I think my face looks chunky, but what can you do?

Upon Further Calculation, I Grew 1/4 An Inch

I have no doubt you all have been popping in each day this week to find out what my measurements were after Goga-ing for one month. Okay, maybe not; but, I'm going to tell you about it anyway because I know there are at least two of you who are interested in this information.

So, you may recall that on October 1 I signed up for one month of Goga. After hearing all the fabulous results women across Madison County were having at losing multiple inches I figured it was definitely something that I needed to try. I made the decision to sign up for one month and to go as often as possible because according to the lovely ladies who work there, the more you go, the better your results will be. For the four week experiment, here are my Goga-ing statistics:

Week One: October 1-6 - Went five times, saunaed four times
Week Two: October 8-13 - Went four times, saunaed twice
Week Three: October 15-20 - Went five times, saunaed four times
Week Four: October 22-27 - Went four times, saunaed three times

I was measured on Monday, October 29 to check my progress. This was exactly four weeks after first signing up. Now, I will say I had some bloating going on this particular day but I'm pretty sure I may have had the same situation on October 1. so, take that however you want. Here are the results:

Date	10/1/2012	10/29/2012
Neck	14.5	14
Bust	43	43
Upper Abs	39	39
Waist	42	42
Lower Abs	53	53.5
Hips	52	53
Left Thigh	30.75	30
Right Thigh	29.75	30
Left Arm	15.25	15
Right Arm	15	15
Total Inches	334.25	334.5
Total Gain		0.25

So, as you can imagine I was a wee bit disappointed. The funny thing is the girl who measured me told me I lost a total of one inch but then when I did the calculations to write this post, it turned out that I actually gained .25 inch - is there no justice in the world? Jackie, however, who has a much better metabolism than me (good genes) and who only went one or two times a week lost a total of seven inches. Yes, that's right folks, seven inches. Apparently my dad was right when he recently told me, "you've just got a big body like the rest of us. You'll have to live with it." Thanks for the words of encouragement.

I did go ahead and sign up for another month because even though the tape measure may not say it, I do feel like I'm looking a little better and have had quite a few people at work comment as such. Jackie said that maybe my cellulite is just melting away first. So, we'll go with that. Works for me. I also thought it was helping keep the sinus infections away but then I was hit with one of those late in the week which kind of tossed that theory out the window.

As of now, my plan is to continue through the end of the year and see how it goes. It does seem to have benefits for a lot of people who go and you can't really argue with those results. I did not go to the gym this past month because of an extremely busy schedule and hope to be able to fit that back into my afternoons along with Goga and maybe that will provide me with some better results. At any rate, at the moment, I do not have any plans to get measured again until the end of December, but that's always subject to change.

*Remember, if you decide to give it a try, don't forget to mention this blog.

You Got Lucky, Dog!

Well, today, Thursday, was the big day at our house - it was the day of The Tide's surgery for her torn ACL. She had to be at the vet's office before 9:00 a.m. Since they open at 8:00, I decided I would drop her off when they opened so I could go on in to work. She couldn't have any food or treats after midnight which was probably quite confusing to her since she is quite accustomed to getting a treat or three in the wee hours of each morning. I got up at my normal time and we went about our morning routines (with the exception of treat and her medicine) and then we left the house a little after 7:00 a.m.

I had to stop by my parents' house before we went to the vet's office because I needed to drop off tickets for Friday's Madison Academy game to my dad and also deliver some ribs that I had bought at Star Market for him. We got to my parents' house around 7:20 only to find all the doors locked tight. So, I had to go back to the car to retrieve my keys and let myself in through the back door. the Tide and I visited with my dad for a good 20 minutes or so before heading out the door again. While we were chatting my dad was rubbing The Tide's belly and told her, "you got lucky, dog." Indeed she did. Some other owner probably would have put her down 10 years ago when she was first diagnosed with hip dysplasia.

We arrived at the vet's office a few minutes before they opened at 8:00. As is always the case, The Tide could not wait to get out of the car and go inside. I don't know if she associates the vet's office with making her feel better or what the deal is, but she absolutely loves going to the vet and will nudge me out of my seat because she is so excited to get out of the car.

I got her signed in and soon after the vet tech came to take her to the back. He told me the surgery would take place around 10:30 or 11:00 and that they would give me a call after it was over to let me know how she was doing. I gave her one last hug and sent her on her merry way. I only got a wee bit teary-eyed and did not sob like a baby as I expected I would. After the tech took her back and I got back on the road, I realized I had left my phone at home and so I had to drive back home to pick it up since they would be calling me later on to tell me how the surgery went. After I got my phone, I went to my own doctor's office because after three months of having no sinus issues, I am once again plagued with a sinus infection. I caught this one really early though so I hope to knock it out quickly and then get back on the path to good health. Despite the very busy morning, I still made it to work by 9:00, which is only two hours later than I normally show up.

I didn't hear from the vet's office until around 1:30 or so. As you can imagine, I was getting a little antsy around noon when I had not heard anything. The vet tech that took her back that morning, Wesley, was also the one to call me. He said that the surgery went well and that she was in recovery. I asked him to please update me each day if possible and also reminded them to keep her through Monday. They usually keep the animals that have this surgery for a couple of days, but I am going on a church retreat this weekend and so I wanted to make sure they could keep a good eye on her while I cam gone. Wesley said he would call me and give me updates on how she is doing, so I'll be anxious to hear from him.

Needless to say, when I got home Thursday evening the house seemed really empty without The Tide wandering about. I'll be glad when she is back home and feeling better.