Having never worked the polls, before, I wasn't sure what I was getting in to when I heeded my party's call for help.  You see, I live in Hamilton County, Indiana --- Dan Burton country --- and the Democratic interest in voting for "No Candidate Filed" in 1/3 of all races, let alone working all day at the polls, is not very strong.

But, hey, I'm in grad school, and my wife is working on her teaching certificate, so a couple hundred bucks and a little pride in having done our civic duty was appealing.  What I did NOT expect, however, was for the day to be as inspiring as it was.

My New Hero

The highlight of my day, without question, was the arrival at our polling station of a pregnant woman and her husband.  She looked, quite literally, ready to burst, and the poll Inspector looked at her and asked "are you on your way to the hospital?"

"Yes," she replied.

It turns out that this soon-to-be mother was on her way to the hospital because she had begun having contractions!

Let me repeat that.

A woman who was HAVING CONTRACTIONS took the time to stop ON HER WAY TO THE HOSPITAL to vote.  Of course, she chose a Democratic ballot, to my great pride, and I did my best to quickly but clearly explain how to use the new computerized voting machines in our county.  It is not easy to find the balance between speed, to get her on her way to the hospital, and clarity, so that I wouldn't have to sacrifice MORE time re-explaining the procedure.

I haven't a clue how she voted.  And, I really don't care.  What matters is that this woman, who I truly think is heroic, albeit in a less than traditional way, cared enough about voting in our party's primary election to stop on the way to the hospital to give birth.

Amazing!  With supporters like this, how can we possibly lose?

Disenfranchisement

I had expected any number of problems, from an aggressive Republican worker, who might challenge voters, to problems with voters meeting the requirements of Indiana's newly upheld voted ID laws.  

Fortunately, in my precinct, the Republican Inspector was my father's neighbor, who was far from unreasonable, and no one failed to meet the ID law.  I don't want this comment to be misunderstood as my support for the law, as I do not have that position.  I am simply glad that we didn't have to turn anyone away.  However, it is impossible to know how many were dissuaded from showing up to vote, because of the law, and my precinct was in a mostly white, middle class and above area of the town, so groups you'd expect to be affected by the law weren't even a large minority of our electorate.

One voter was disenfranchised, though not intentionally.  An elderly woman, she had difficulty with the new machines, thinking it worked as a touchscreen, rather than pressing the buttons beside the screen to make her selection.  As such, she never actually voted for any candidates, and we didn't notice until she left the building.  This happened early in the day, and affected the ways in which I explained the process to voters for the rest of the day.

The Highs and Lows of the Tally

Tallying the votes, at the end of the day, was an exciting moment.  I had expected Obama to carry my county easily, and so was surprised to see that Clinton carried my precinct by ten votes.  But I was also excited to see that Dan Burton LOST my precinct by seven votes...a result that wouldn't hold across the District, unfortunately.  

More important than any of this, however, was that turnout (counting absentee, but not early voting) was above 40%.  And, at the end of the day, more Democratic ballots had been cast than Republican, by a scant margin.  If you're at all familiar with this part of Indiana, you'd know that this is almost unbelievable.  

This election is fully winnable in November, both for the Presidency and to increase the Congressional majorities.  The enthusiasm for Democrats is as high as it's been in a LONG time.

Funny Old People

The more amusing moments of the day came almost exclusively from elderly voters, and mainly because they just don't give a damn about the privacy of their vote!

A few quick stories:

1.) As one elderly man voted at one machine, his wife at another, the man suddenly exclaimed "OH! Mitt Romney's on here!"  His wife quickly hollered back at him "OH! I like him!" to laughter from the rest of the precinct.

2.) One woman seemed unsure about which Presidential candidate should receive her vote.  I was standing nearby, mainly because her behavior indicated she might have difficulty working the machine, though she seemed to think I was her personal election adviser, as she asked me repeatedly "Who's this guy [Mike Huckabee]?" and "Is he any good?"

3.) One elderly man poured over his ballot for what seemed like an eternity.  He'd say "President of the United States," look at the choices, and then proclaim "I don't see him on here!"  He'd then stare at the screen for a minute or so, before repeating this process again and again.  Finally, worried that he was having trouble reading the screen, and thinking that I'd have to assist him and fill out the "Voter Assistance" form, I asked him WHO, exactly, he was looking for, to which he loudly responded "I can't remember what the Hell his name is!"  When he finally finished voting, his wife asked him how it went and, once again, he proclaimed to the precinct "I couldn't remember who the Hell I wanted to vote for [in the GOP Presidential race]!"