Today I spent 4 hours and 15 minutes in training for the election in November.  This will be my third time as a poll worker, but my first Presidential election.  Each election there are rule changes and different equipment, so every time you must spend another 4 hours learning everything again, although they could train us with just the changes in about an hour.  Sigh.

My recommendation for November?  Vote Absentee if you can.  In my county, which is always rife with problems, we will be using paper ballots again.  Paper and pen!  Your ballots must be counted at the end of the night (not the votes, just the ballot) by poll workers (me) and if that sounds simple read my entry from the primaries in March.  Some people can’t or don’t like to vote absentee and that’s okay, just be patient.  If you think it should take 15 minutes to vote, allow an hour.  Hopefully it won’t take an hour, but prepare yourself for it anyway.  If you think poll workers aren’t very nice, please remember that we get there at 5:30 am and don’t get to leave until well after the polls close at 7:30.  We try to put on a happy face, but we get tired  and frustrated too.

Craig Ferguson is on CBS at 12:30 am and last night I really liked his take on the election, so I’m including the youtube video.  Craig became a US citizen this year just so he could take part in the election process.  He did a series of shows on citizenship that I’m sure you can also find on youtube.  Enjoy and, please, VOTE.