Poll Worker Diaries

5:55am
My rain jacket blew behind me, parachuting as I ran. Just a few minutes before, I’d rubbed the sleep from my eyes and dressed in the dark. Now, I was jogging down the block to my polling center, hoping to arrive by six.

6:05am
The vote center leads were set up and ready to go. We reviewed some of our training, including elections lingo and rules. Did you know, for instance, that poll workers are not allowed to touch a completed ballot? Afterwards, I chatted with other high school workers; no two of us came from the same school. 

6:45am
The sun rose over the Hillsborough vote center, illuminating a small window of stained glass with greens and purples. For my first assignment, I was stationed at the check-in table. Along with two other high schoolers and a veteran volunteer, I was responsible for greeting incoming voters and asking them to fill out basic information. While we waited for our day to begin, our first voter appeared! I loved his enthusiasm; he waited patiently outside for almost fifteen minutes until we could let him in.

7:00am
The polls opened at 7 exactly. Mike, our Vote Center Rep, shouted “Hear ye, hear ye!” from the front steps of city hall. For the next several hours, I welcomed voters. I explained that ballots are available in four languages, directed people to the vote-by-mail ballot box, and passed out “I Voted” stickers when voters left.

9:30am
I headed to the break room for donuts and cronut holes. I learned that cronuts live up to their name—they have layers of flaky, buttery pastry dunked in icing.

11:00am
I decided to switch tasks and work at the BMT card station. A BMT is a ballot marking ballot, or touchscreen, and some of our voters were seeing them for the first time. BMTs are easy to use and don’t record a voter's information; the tablets simply print out the voter’s choices on a piece of paper, which the voter deposits into the ballot box. My job was to load plastic cards with the voter’s precinct number, ensuring they could vote in the correct precinct on the BMT. 

3:00pm
We chose our lunch and dinner breaks at the start of the day. My dinner hour was scheduled for 3. I heard 5-8pm are usually the busiest hours of the day, and I didn't want to miss out on the action.

4:00pm 
4pm was the after school rush. A diverse crowd of people streamed in through the doors. Children as young as four or five accompanied their parents, and there were businesspeople in suits and elderly married couples. An 18-year-old first-time voter cast their ballot, which thrilled everyone working behind the desks.

8:00pm
No one was turned away; our last voter arrived with twenty seconds to spare. As long as a voter is in line at a polling place by eight o’ clock on Election Day, they have a right to vote.

9:00pm
Once our last voters finished, we organized our slice of city hall. As part of the election integrity process, I counted hundreds unused sheets of printer paper and check them against the sheets of paper we’d recorded using, multiple times. I also helped verify other workers’ counting. I saw for myself that there are many safeguards in the electoral process. Finally, when everything was in order and the ballot boxes were delivered to county election headquarters, I took off my orange vest and headed home. I felt proud that I participated in the democratic process!

Part 2 (Sylvie)

This November I was an election worker. A few months ago, my history teacher announced an opportunity of working the polls to my class. I was quick to sign up. As a young person who is not yet eligible to vote, it is easy to feel disconnected from elections and politics. Being an election worker allowed me to be directly involved in democracy while getting paid to do so.

On November 8 I arrived at the Burlingame Community Center at 6:00 am (maybe a minute or two late) in comfy attire and began my day as an election worker.

To begin my work day I was given a bright orange vest and a tag with bolded words spelling “Yo hablo Español." After years of classes, it felt greatly rewarding to be able to support and accommodate more voters because of my proficiency in Spanish. 

After meeting and being briefed by my team, I was tasked with greeting voters and passing them sign-in sheets before they entered to vote.

Over the course of the day, several people who entered were enthusiastic, first time voters. It felt wonderful to be able to share this experience with them and it made me all the more excited for when I turn 18.

One of my favorite interactions happened during my shift overseeing the ballot drop off box where a family accompanied a man as he voted for the first time. At their request, I took a photo of them, smiling with pride, after turning in their ballots. The family left with plenty of “I voted” stickers.

Unfortunately for me and my fellow election workers, Burlingame’s dry spell was broken in the late afternoon during my outside shift at the ballot box. I am very grateful to my dad for promptly delivering several blankets for me and my teammates. 

I spent the final hours of my shift, outside, with a plethora of blankets and snacks, helping the last few voters put in their ballots while watching a zombie movie with my new friends.

Overall, I am very glad to have participated in this experience and will be sure to sign up as an election worker in the future. From my day working the polls, I learned of the extensive effort put into making the process safe and legitimate. Once I am eligible, I will be sure to exercise my civic duty at every opportunity.



- November 17, 2022