what did you do on election day?

-----
I voted early because I worked on election day. I helped people find their voting locations. I told them where to vote, but not how to vote. That's a departure from my usual job on election day.

Tuesday, election day, I answered phone calls for the Board of Elections. The volunteers from LWV were in a room with a door at each end and a table running down the middle. There were four telephones on each side of the table and one on the end. Each place had a computer. The room was barely big enough to walk behind the chairs (a really tight squeeze for some of us.)

Most of the calls were from people who wanted to vote but were not sure about the location of their voting place. After getting the name of the person calling and an address, I looked up the name on a computer and told the caller his or her precinct number and the location. Some had moved since they last voted and I told them to go to their old precinct and get a transfer slip and take it to the new location. Some wanted to know if they could vote on the bond issues. I told them they could only vote if they lived within the city limits of Greensboro. Some thought they were in the city, but when I looked up their address, it was not in Greensboro. Only one person seemed a bit upset. He had gone to his regular polling place and the bond issues didn't show up on the ballot.

I hope every eligible voter who called got to cast a vote. I would like to see people able to vote at any polling place in the county. There would have to be a central secure registry for that to happen. It could be done so that the appropriate ballot choices would show up for each voter like it does in early voting machines and a way to ensure that each voter could only cast one ballot.

I love early voting. It is so convenient. I think that more people would vote if they could vote early and close to their workplace or their favorite restaurant. We Americans are a bit lazy. The only thing I don't like about early voting or anywhere voting is that I have always enjoyed going to the poll on election day and seeing people that I haven't talked to in awhile, maybe since last election day. It is always fun to chat a bit while waiting in line or even outside after voting.

The strangest call I answered was from a person who wanted to know if she could cast a vote in Greensboro for a candidate in another state. The last call I answered was at 7:23. I told the caller where to find his voting place. I also told him that I hoped he was very close because he only had a few minutes to get there.

It was an interesting job, but I wouldn't want to do it full-time.