Thursday Oct 15: Surviving

 
Thursday October 15, the first day of early voting, was a blur. When Lois and I arrived at 7am, an hour before the polls opened, approximately 50 people were in line to vote. By the time the polls opened, the line had doubled, wrapping around the side of the building and around the corner.
 
Lois and I had been emailed an updated list of workers Wednesday night, divided into an early shift (7:30am – 2pm) and a later shift (1:30pm – 8pm). We did not have a full crew on either shift but enough to open and function. They arrived at 7:30am.
 
After quick introductions we assigned each person a specific task. Lois took charge of the voting room and helped orient each worker while I led the curbside team (the youngest and healthiest women) outside. We walked down 20 steps toward 5 parking spaces reserved specifically for curbside voters. At 7:50am there were 20+ cars lined up waiting to vote curbside. While the women helped the voters inside the first 2 cars I walked down the line of waiting cars to greet voters, thank them for their patience, and organize the line to snake through the parking lot so as not to block traffic on the main road.
 
It was 8:06am by the time I made my way back up the 20 steps to the voting room entrance. The door was still locked and people in line were getting anxious. I apologized to them for the delayed opening and thanked them for their patience, then knocked on the door and asked Lois if she and the workers were ready. She said yes so we opened the door and allowed people to enter slowly, 1 by 1.
 
A delightful, friendly woman named Priscilla greeted voters as they entered and offered each person disposable gloves and a pen. Her table was stocked with supplies: pens, masks, hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes, and a variety of gloves (medium, large, X-large, latex and powder free). From what I saw and remember, everyone wore masks though a few masks were loose and not covering noses. Some wore face shields instead of masks, and a few wore both. I didn't notice a single person without PPE, not that I can remember. 
 
Our room was set up with 3 registration tables plus 2 help desk stations for Lois and me; 5 laptops total with shared printers. There were only 2 workers comfortable using a computer so 1 registration table remained closed until the afternoon shift workers arrived.
 
The voting booths are intended to accommodate 4 voters each, in a circle, with dividers between like a pie cut into 4 pieces. We were instructed to put closed signs on 2 of the 4 tabletop surfaces for COVID social distancing, forcing us to operate at 50% max capacity.
 
One worker stood near the ballot scanner machine to assist voters casting their ballots, and to collect pens and distribute “I Voted” stickers. We had planned to give every voter a pen to keep but delivery of extra pens was delayed so we collected and sanitized pens for re-use. Also, we were supposed to have a line manager outside and a statistics tabulator person inside to help organize and count paper forms but didn’t fill those positions until later in the day when more workers arrived. Some of the morning shift workers agreed to stay later than scheduled so we were fully staffed for a few hours in the afternoon.
 
The first hour was painful for everyone, voters waiting in line as well as workers trying to learn their jobs and get everything right. By afternoon we were rolling along smoothly. There were some intermittent tech issues, laptops and printers needed to be rebooted a few times throughout the first day, but otherwise no major issues. We rotated quick breaks as we could but no one took longer than 15 minutes.
 
Some early morning voters waited 2 hours to vote. By 10am wait times dropped to 90 minutes. By afternoon we were down to 30 minute wait times, then 15 minutes, then walk ins (no waiting) during the last hour or two.
 
Outside there were more than 30 cars lined up waiting for curbside during peak morning hours, most with 3 or 4 voters inside. A few curbside voters waited long enough to have ballot packets prepared but drove away before actually voting so their ballots were spoiled (cancelled). Curbside activity slowed during afternoon shift.
 
718 people voted at our location Thursday, approximately 150 of them curbside. Polls closed at 7:30pm and a few workers helped us organize and count paper authorization to vote forms before leaving at 8pm. Since Lois and I are both new leads, BOE trainer Danielle assisted us with our first end of day close out. We finished at 9:45pm.
 
I drove home exhausted yet relieved to have survived the first day, physically tired and grimy with sweat. Greg met me at the door with a stiff drink (Jack and Coke) and unpacked my lunch bag for me while I washed my hands and face. In the bathroom mirror I noticed dirt in the crease of my neck and dry, cracked cuticles around my fingernails. Afterward I sat down to rest and tell Greg about my day. Couldn’t relax enough to fall asleep until after midnight, then woke up at 5:30am to do it all over again.
 
Friday, day 2 of early voting, was better though not great. Security was late to unlock our room so I called a phone number I had been given but no answer. Found a call button near the entrance so I pressed it once which emitted a loud noise like a fire alarm. Waited a few seconds and pressed it again, a little longer. Still no response so I pressed it longer, roughly 10 seconds. Finally a sleepy eyed security guard emerged from down the hall.
 
A long line of voters were waiting for us again but our longest wait time was 1 hour 10 minutes, a marked improvement from the day before. Several of the workers agreed to longer shifts so we had enough staff to fill all but 1 position during peak, and to rotate more and longer breaks. I took two 15 minute breaks, first around 11am and another around 3pm. 595 voters cast their ballots with us Friday, 94 curbside. Lois and I were done with close out reporting by 8:45pm, an hour earlier than the night before.
 
Saturday morning I stopped at McDonalds to pick up biscuits and orange juice for the team. While in the drive thru line I received a text from Lois. Local tv morning news host had announced polls would open at 8am though we were planning for a 9am start. Oh shit. It was 7:45am and my heart raced. I sped to work, carried breakfast into our break room and called the tv station as I began turning machines on to get the voting room ready. The woman who answered the phone at WXII apologized for the mistake and said a correction had been announced multiple times to clarify the correct start times in each nearby county. Meanwhile a man waiting outside saw me through the glass door and knocked to get my attention. He was upset, said one of the registration desk workers had kept his driver’s license and he wanted it back. I asked him to please wait a moment so I could investigate. I had my hands full with start-up tasks so I asked Lois to help the man at the door. At first she continued to eat her biscuit and mumbled that we didn’t have his license, which I agreed we probably didn’t since we aren’t allowed to ask for ID unless a person has moved and we need to verify their new address. She did not want to deal with him so I asked her nicely to please help. She still didn’t want to so I asked firmly, less nicely. She finally got up and walked out to assist him. Lois and I work fairly well together as co-leads, complementing one another; her with more experience and me with computer skills. But she has 2 speeds: slow and slightly slower. My patience was wearing thin Saturday morning, very thin.
 
After finishing their biscuits, team members slowly shuffled to their work stations to begin the day. Unfortunately some people didn’t show up as scheduled, and we had no young healthy workers to do curbside voting. The youngest of the crew were obese women who did not want to trudge up and down 20 steps multiple times a day for curbside. I tried to nudge them, begged them, but they wouldn’t budge. I feared that if I pushed them too hard they would quit so I reluctantly agreed to be the curbside attendant if 1 other person would help me by staying at the top of the steps to run papers between me and Lois. Between 9am and 5pm I spent about 7 hours (all but 1 hour) outside managing curbside, and logged nearly 12,000 steps total, most of them up and down the hill between the building and the parking lot.
 
The longest wait time was 30 minutes during early morning, 15 minutes for about an hour, then walk in (no waiting) the rest of the day. 315 people voted at our site Saturday, 45 curbside. Lois and I completed close out by 6:30pm. I called Greg to coordinate dinner plans; he placed a carry out order online from a nearby restaurant and I picked it up on the way home.
 
Though I had expected Saturday to be a better day than Thursday or Friday, it started out worse and ended with me even more exhausted than I can describe. The good news is that those of us who worked together Saturday bonded. Several of them checked in with me periodically and cheered me on as I struggled to repeatedly climb up and down the steps as the day wore on. It was only 20 steps but I felt like Sylvester Stalone climbing massive stairs in an iconic scene from his Rocky movie, only I was slowly limping instead of running like him, and there was no soundtrack music motivating me to keep going. At the bottom of the hill I sometimes leaned against a concrete lamp post to rest like a tired hooker. It was not a good look. Eventually I moved my car closer to the curbside area so I could sit inside and rest a bit when curbside service was slow enough. One worker, an older black woman who I think was initially skeptical of working with a potentially bossy white woman, actually hugged me at the end of the day and told me I was a hard worker. I felt good to have earned her respect. Still, by the end of the day, I was broken both physically and emotionally. My back and legs ached and I sobbed pitifully while driving home, struggling to regain my composure before picking up dinner.
 
After dinner I took 2 Bayer Back and Body aspirin pills, cried a little more as I told Greg about my day, then checked messages. My brother Randy let me know that our 90 year old paternal grandmother died Saturday. She was our last surviving grandparent. It was late by the time I saw his message so I texted him back rather than call. Greg asked me how I felt about her death. I am sad, of course, but glad she died relatively peacefully rather than in pain or due to COVID. I don’t know if there will be a funeral and won’t attend if there is. I loved her very much but already said my goodbyes to her and that side of my family. I am estranged from my father but am considering writing him a letter and sending him a sympathy card. Randy isn’t sure if that would upset him or not so I’m going to think about it a little more. Greg is understanding and supportive, he knows about my strained family relationships. He also cautioned me not to tell people at work that my grandmother died yesterday because they might think I am cold and heartless for continuing to work after her passing instead of taking a break to grieve. I think he is right so I only told a few close friends. Judge me if you must, I don’t have time to explain right now. 
 
I slept ok Saturday night, felt somewhat rested when I woke up Sunday, more or less, good enough. I need to be at work by noon. Polls open 1pm to 5pm Sunday.