Helping Out the Electoral Process (sorta)

Christopher and I just got back from setting up the room he'll be working in during the election tomorrow. I had never known anyone who did that kind of thing before Christopher. I mean... I knew people worked at polling places during the day, but I didn't know anyone who gave their entire day to sitting in the voting room making sure that everything goes smoothly. And, yet, that is what Christopher will be doing tomorrow for a thoroughly mind-numbing 16 hours! 

To make the start of the day go a little smoother, tonight we went over to the school where Christopher will be working and got the bare bones of the room set up. It's a multipurpose/cafeteria room in an elementary school, so I spent my time moving some tables and chairs and setting up the "voting booths" (which are, honestly, fairly spindly plastic desks with three partition walls around them). Then I spent some time taping Spanish, Russian, Hmong, Vietnamese and Somali voting instructions on the wall--covering over the lunchroom monitor schedules. Christopher spent his evening making sure everything he needs for tomorrow was in the right places, and trying to figure out the proper layout of the room so that the "Automark" machine (really a rather cool gadget) and the Ballot Counting machine were properly spaced away from other things. 

Tomorrow morning Christopher will head for the school so that he can be there around 5:45--yes in the morning. He'll have a few volunteers meet up with him around 6, so that they can open the doors to voters at 7am. From that point until 8pm, he'll be in charge of a roomful of volunteers making sure that anyone who wants to vote can have that opportunity. And... well... for anyone who isn't eligible, he'll have to deal with that, too. If all goes well, he'll get home around 9:30 or 10 tomorrow night. 

Alright, so, here's the deal:

1) We've all sat through months of political posturing and ads and mudslinging--and that was from the newscasters.

2) We've had to deal with people phoning us at odd hours to tell us what they want us to think, as well as the constant visual barrage along the roadways.

3) The rooms are set. The ballots are ready. And Christopher--and everyone like him who is going to be overseeing the elections--is waiting.

Which leaves me with only one question: What are you waiting for? Go vote. 

(Well... if you're reading this on Tuesday, November 4th, at least... and if you live in the States... otherwise--yeah--I guess you're fairly exempt...)