The alarm went off at 4AM. Shower, coffee, grab my bag, and head out the door. I arrive at our voting location a bit before 5AM. The rest of the team is getting there as well. For this off year dual primary, there are six of us as Election Officers for our district.

We set up the polling place by putting signs out, turning on the computers and voting machines, running the tapes to verify that the machines are working properly, and arranging the privacy booths. As we finish this, our chief gathers us together, and administers the oath of office. At 6AM, Joe goes outside and announces: “This polling place is open”.

Over the course of the day, there is a steady, but slow stream of our fellow citizens arriving to vote. Almost everyone is in a good mood. I see no libtards, wing nuts, repugnuts, cuckservatives, or any of the other derogatory words we use to malign people we don’t agree with politically. What I see are people who are concerned about the direction of our country, no matter which side of the aisle they are on. That seems to be the one thing we all have in common.

At 7PM, we close the poll. We have another hour of taking down the signs, shutting down the computers and tallying the results. For our district, just under 20% of the eligible voters actually voted. This is much higher than a typical primary turnout in an off year election, but much lower than the 75% of us who voted in our district for the last presidential election. I’m happy at the “higher than normal” turnout for this type of primary, but wondering to myself – where is everyone else? We all have a stake in this.

At about 8:30PM, I’m back home. A long day, but one that I enjoy very much. Serving as a voting official is a tiny way to give back to this great country of ours. I just wish more of my fellow citizens would avail themselves of their right to vote.