Poll Worker. . .

So I spent my day today as a poll worker.  I worked the polls.  My official title was "Ada County Deputy of Elections".  Sounds impressive but all I had to do was tear a ballot off of the ballot pad, stamp it with an official looking stamp, put it in the "Secret Envelope", hand it to the voter and direct them to the "Voter Booth" and then to the "Ballot Box".  It was pretty easy except for the fact that the Voter Booths are actually cardboard boxes where you fill out your ballot which led to my confusion in directing people to vote in the Ballot Box.  I finally wrote myself a note and eventually remembered to call them voting booths.  By the end of the 13 hour day, I had gotten pretty good at it. 

Despite the long hours (7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.), it wasn't a bad day.  There were four of us (Tami and Kristin were my fellow Deputies of Elections and Judy was the "Judge" as in "Judge Judy" HA!) and during the dry spells between voters we talked, watched Youtube videos on Tami's IPhone and snacked. 

I'm a people-watcher so during the course of the day I made an interesting observation.  I've decided there are four categories of Voters. 

The first category are the Passionate Voters.  The people who believe we all MUST exercise our right to vote regardless of the issue or the outcome.  These people expressed disappointment at the low turn out and many drug along reluctant friends and neighbors.  Which leads me to the next category.

The second category are the Reluctant Voters.  Motivated only by guilt or Passionate Voter friends, these voters drug their feet and a couple of them were visibly relieved when it turned out they couldn't vote due to a technicality after all.  Many of them had not registered in advance and either weren't at the right precinct or didn't have the proper documentation. 

The third category was probably the largest of the first three and is made of up the Just-Doing-My-Civic-Duty Voter.  They trickled in throughout the day, most were already registered and they voted in a very matter-of-fact way.  They wore their "I Voted" stickers with a sense of satisfaction and are probably sleeping comfortably tonight.

The fourth and final category are the No-Show Voters.  The biggest category of all.  Out of 300 voters in the precinct we were in, only 129 people showed up to vote and I think that was considered to be pretty good.  171 people didn't vote. 

My confession is that I am a former No-Show Voter.  I haven't paid attention to the issues or the candidates.  When a Presidential Election comes around, I turn into a Just-Doing-My-Civic-Duty Voter mostly for the sticker but I turn a deaf ear and a blind eye the rest of the time. 

However. . . I've been educated in a very short period of time with my experience as a Poll Worker.  Voting is important.  Voting isn't difficult.  Or scary.  Maybe my vote won't count for much in the long run but maybe it will.  And maybe I will vote because I CAN vote.  Hmmmm. . . that almost sounds like something a Passionate Voter would say.  I guess I should actually do more than just work the polls in order to decide which category I'll be in from now on. . .