my day as a poll worker

by Gabriella Hartlaub

In 2020, election day turned into election week. From the voting day on Tuesday, the results of the presidential election weren’t announced until the Saturday afterwards, which took the focus off the normal election day party that usually happens. While a lot of people in this country were waiting for the election results to pour in on November 4th, I participated in this election by spending  the day working at my local polling place. 

For a poll worker, the election day starts at 6am, when all of the voting booths, the voting machine, the registration table, the check in table have to be unpacked. This year we had to set up everything with special COVID regulations, such as everything had to be six feet apart and there were barriers put up at the registration tables.  The polls open  in Wisconsin at 7am sharp when the Chief Election Inspector announces, “Hear Ye, Hear Ye, the polls are now open.” At my polling place, we had a huge morning rush and lines out into the lobby of the high school we used. People came up to the line, showed the check in workers their ID’s, and then received their ballots to vote. 

Not only were people voting, they were also registering to vote. Wisconsin has same day voter registration, which means that people can come in and register to vote on election day, then be able to cast their ballot. As I was directing people to voting booths I overheard a man at the registration table explaining why he had come out to vote. He said that he hadn’t been inspired by any of the campaigns but he’d woken up on election day and decided that it was his civic duty. Although at that point I was beginning to get tired, hearing him say that really kept me going through the long day. What would’ve happened if there had only been five polling places open in the city like there were in April? Would he have felt the same way, and braved the long lines to cast his ballot? 

Throughout the day, I was reminded of just how important the job is. We had at least ten first time voters, some who had just turned eighteen but some who were old and decided that this election was the one where they needed to get involved. Everytime a first time voter put their ballot in the machine, they were greeted with a round of applause from all the workers congratulating them on contributing to our democracy. There was a young man who was having trouble getting the identification needed to vote, who left but then came back a couple of hours later with everything ready to go and was able to cast his ballot. 

Watching people come and vote really reminds you of how important voting is to democracy. It’s so easy to get caught up in the big fights, in the supreme court, in the parties going against one another, in the negative ads, scandals and power plays but in the end, it’s all really about one person and one vote. Democracy is about voting, it’s about making your voice heard whatever it takes. As I watched people cast their ballots, I thought about those who had voted early and waited in the long lines to do so. I thought about those who are still disenfranchised because of a previous criminal conviction, or voter suppression measures in their state. I thought about everyone who died for everyone to have the right to vote. 

All of which to say, if you can vote you should vote. In every election primary elections, special elections, not just the general election because putting that one ballot into the machine means everything. But also make sure that you put your ballot in the right way, because as someone who had to climb into the voting machine to release a ballot that got stuck it is very claustrophobic and dark. And if you can, become a poll worker. This experience was so interesting and rewarding for me. The satisfaction that I felt from registering people to vote, marking people’s number in the poll book, and double checking names in the poll book so that there were no discrepancies or fraud is something that felt so good and like nothing I had felt before. 

At 8pm, the Chief announced, “Hear Ye, Hear Ye, the polls are now closed.” A couple of people were still inside voting as we began to take down the tables, and the barriers, and begin the paperwork that would need to be completed by the time we left. The poll books needed to be double and triple checked, the voters for each and every ballot assigned, the voter registration forms matched with the list of registered voters for the day. The ballots were all packed into bags, and all of the workers for the day, and the poll watchers for each party waiting for the Chief to announce the results from the voting machine. When all the write in votes were written down and categorized (just so you’re aware you have to write in a registered voter for it to count, anything fictional characters or dead people will be discontinued immediately) the day was finally over.  

It was a long day, but at the end we could be sure that the votes we facilitated would be counted, and the voters we registered were able to vote for years to come. It’s pretty cool to think about the fact that the vote total from all 300 of the voters we saw got put into the county total and eventually the state total all the way up to the national popular vote.  It is less than one year from now that I will be an eligible voter, and I am going to participate in democracy by working and voting. I will not just post my thoughts on instagram because I know now more than ever that there is work to be done to make a Democracy.

​