I’ve been working inside at various polling places, working for the Board of Elections, for a number of years, in a number of jobs. This year, the Board was testing out the use of a poll worker and a laptop to quickly input a voter’s address and produce their correct precinct, in polls where there were many precincts in one location.
So I was working in St. Bernard, in their Municipal Building, where the polls for the entire village are located. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work out. Especially since the Board had made several important changes to the big green book which lists every address and every precinct in Hamilton County.
But the computer really improved the system, reduced the number of provisional ballots, and sped everything up nicely. And it was easy. Some voters saw the signs on my table, and came right over to give me their addresses so I could look up the precinct. Others walked in looking uncertain, and I called them over. Sometimes they strode confidently up to a precinct table, only to have to walk over to my table to find the correct one.
The poll workers were easy and great to work with, the voters were happy, and I was quite content to hangout with the laptop and make everyone’s long day a little easier.