CATCH UP TIME! May & my "job".

     I give OTHER people grief when they don't update their blogs!!!    Here it is July and I haven't written since April??? 

Well.....today I will solve that!

May was the first of my two "employment" seasons.  (I will repeat this in late Oct/early November).  I have worked with the Clark County Election Department for most of our married life on Election days.   For the last several years I have also been brought on board the early voting teams that go out to shopping malls, libraries, community centers, grocery stores, etc. and bring the opportunity to vote TO the people.   We do this for two full weeks just prior to the actual primary or general election so people have the chance, if they choose, to cast their ballots and avoid lines or time-crunches on the day of the actual election.

This photo was actually taken two years ago, but the same team members worked this year with the exception of the lady standing on the right.   We are set up at a Food For Less grocery store.   Anyone in the city can vote at ANY early election site throughout the city.  They check in at these computers so that we can activate a voter card for them that contains the correct information for their correct congressional district and party affiliation.

This is a work with long days and lots of detail and concentration!   I logged in 82 hours the first week but was, thankfully, given a day off before starting week two!   This year I served as Team Leader which means you

• are the boss....and in charge of ALL aspects of your team's set up, the take down, your crew of workers, their schedules for what day they work and for how many hours, their lunch breaks, their time sheets, their individual comfort, their birthdays when they fall on work days (my own self-imposed concern), personality conflicts, etc.  Fortunately I have great workers and we blend well and no one causes problems.  (Last few times I have been Assistant Team Leader, but this year the gentleman who was the boss before decided not to work this time so they "advanced" me.)  
• work all day, every day, starting early in the morning and going until the early evening.  Actual hours depend on if you have to pick  up and deliver materials and voting cartridges to the warehouse on a given day or not.   Since I am part of a mobile team we go to a different site  every couple of days, some of which are clear across town from where I live.  Therefore you have to figure in travel time.
•  get to be the one who listens to every concern, complaint, frustration or crankiness of any voter at any given time.  Somehow, because you are wearing the Election Dept. shirt, you get to be the target for whatever anger, dissatisfaction or axe to grind about anything political whether it is rational or not.   Some people will even stop by the tables just to vent even when they are choosing not to vote.  You need to be able to let this all roll off your back and keep a pleasant smile,  and NOT let anyone on the team get into any arguing matches with people.  And you get to keep a lid on your OWN frustration if what they say is particularly hurtful - which it definitely can be!  Sometimes people actually thank us for being there!   THAT keeps us going!
•  need to know how to hook up 10-12 kinds of cables & power sources & locks to three computers, three hand scanners, three computer mouses (mice???), one paper printer, three label printers & three voting card activators each day ... and take it all down again at night.  .... as well as help set up, if necessary, anywhere from 5-15 individual voting machines if the warehouse crew is not always there to get it done ahead.   I felt absolutely triumphant when FINALLY three days into this I found I could look at either end of any of the several dozen cords or cables and know what machine it went into and do it accurately.   Did I feel like a computer genius or what???
• all too often get to sit long hours doing almost nothing on primary elections because people are apathetic and "only want to vote for the president."  Those days are the hardest for the hours seem to drag by, even if you have reading material with you.   How frustrating that people won't take the time to learn what they need to make their vote count for judges, school district personnel, congessmen, senators and sherrif  races.   THESE are the people who have a lot of impact on them locally............aw, don't get me started.   This slow day problem will NOT be a concern for the November General Election.   We will have the opposite problem of being very busy because the presidential race will bring out many thousands more voters.
• get to educate people who don't understand the difference between a primary election and a general election and why they can't vote across party lines in the primary (at least here in Nevada).     Or educate them as to why they can't vote for so-and-so whose face they have seen on television but who doesn't appear on their ballot.  (The answer is, "You do not live in the Congressional District in which that person is running.")
• get to use my Spanish Language skills since I am also hired as a language specialist.  This year we also had a Philipino gentleman with us for two days since the ballot is also in Tagalog this year and we were set up at the very busy Philipino Market in town.

Celebrating Laura's birthday.  Hey, when you are working in a grocery store having an instant party is only limited by the amount of money you are willing to spend!

SO.... if you  have actually read this far you know more than you ever wanted to know about what the early election process is and what I spent part of May/June doing.    I am assigned two assistant team leaders.  Victor served as one of them, so we at least had a few days together during the two weeks instead of my being gone for 10 hours without him.   

The salary from this goes to our "fun money" account.  Well....that is always where we HOPE it will go!   This year it will buy us a new air handler and replace the broken sideview mirror and tail light on the pick-up!     Sigh!   Another year passes where I don't buy window coverings for my family room!   Oh well.  The cardboard inserts have worked for 20 some years.   Guess we can't complain!