Every Vote Counts

 Yesterday was primary day in Duluth and also in Morgan Park. I worked at the Morgan Park precinct 33 again. I worked here twice last year and today was a calmer, more enjoyable day. I arrived smack dab at 6 a.m., right on time. Our head judge was there and also another woman who looked to be in her 30's. I set my coffee, my lunch box, and my bag down and got to work. We hung up signs. This city community center is not air conditioned. Inside was hot and stuffy. I opened the windows and turned on this giant fan which sounded just like a jet engine. By 8:30 p.m. we were happy to turn off that loud fan. I found a new flag in our equipment so I thought I would set it in front of the fan so the banner could wave. See my excellent masking tape technique? Later our head judge said the flag had to go outside. Someone else moved the whole chair outside.  You can see the morning was very foggy. I like fog because I can pretend I am in a Sherlock Holmes film. Our other helper arrived. She looked to be in her 20's. Today we would only have four people working. We had everything ready to go ten minutes before the polls opened at eight a.m. Our first voter arrived at 8:05 a.m. At 8:30 I went outside to get a breath of foggy air. Fer cryin" out loud! The flag was hanging upside on the chair. That is a symbol of distress! I know this because we used to have a flag outside where I worked. One day two particpants ran the flag up the flagpole upside down. Later an officer with the Blaine police department stopped by. He told our Director that an upside down American flag is a sign of distress. Anyway, I picked up the flag and promptly dropped it on the sidewalk! I swear I have the worst case of butterfingers. I drop my phone more often than I drop Kleenex. As I went to pick up the flag off the ground my phone fell on the sidewalk. Dang it! The phone didn't break. I stuck the flag right side up in the ground near the sidewalk so the banner could wave outside. All the humid air was making our paper signs wilt so I generously applied more masking tape. The city gave us four rolls of masking tape. Then I went inside to have my breakfast. Voting was slow. Our head judge looked through the books to make sure the city took out all the people who died recently. She said the city does a good job taking out dead voters. She thinks the city election staff read the obituaries. We had gaps of no voters up to 45 minutes at a time. One of the other judges said she got more work done today than if she had gone to work. She works at a college. I wasn't peeking but I saw she was making a  PowerPoint presentation on her computer. Our head judge played Wheel of Fortune on her phone and read a Danielle Steele library book. The other judge read a book her Mom gave her. Her Mom enrolled her in an on-line book club for her birthday which sounds fun but I would prefer to meet in person with a book club. I got a lot done too. I had a huge coffee table library book with gorgeous pictures about Prince! I love reading the big book but I had to be careful, I didn't want to offend anybody. Prince tended to thrive offending people. Later I tried to watch a you tube video of Prince on the Muppet Show. I turned the volume way down and made sure no voters were in the room. Oh, Prince was great on that show. I giggled out loud watching Prince on the Muppet Show. I used to watch the Muppet Show all the time in college. Every Wednesday we would meet at this guy's house in Saint Cloud, near Munsinger Gardens, have a potluck dinner, and enjoy the Muppet Show. Good times. My college roommates are coming to stay with me in a couple weeks and I am sure we will be watching the Muppet Show. 

Our head judge has lived in this precinct nearly all of her life. She knows everybody. At least ten times I saw her open the page for the voter to sign before they even walked in the door. I told her, "You know everybody." I said this to her about a dozen times all day.

Every time she replied, "Not every body."

Her son came in to vote. I introduced myself. I told him, "Your Mom knows everybody."

Her son says, "Yes, she knows everybody." By the way, he owns a comic book shop and I totally want to go there someday. Also  he lives at home just like on the television show "Sheldon."

Our head judge had me in stitches off and on all day. All four of us have great senses of humor. I asked her for a referral for a lawyer who writes wills. She gives me the name and number o a big shot lawyer in Duluth. This guy has billboards all over town. I have seen the billboards. "Need a divorce? Call (lawyer's name). Need a will? Call (lawyer's name)." Later in the afternoon I am at the table signing voters in and another election judge opens the page before the guy comes to the door. He walks in. I ask her, "Do you know him?"

"Yes," she says. "He has billboards all over town."

The man smiles and says, "Glad to hear my advertising is paying off." Here is the lawyer in person! Then she told me about this TV show called "Just Call Saul." The show is about some sleazy lawyer. She thought it was hysterical that this lawyer's advertising was very much like Saul's advertising. Now I have to watch "Just Call Saul."

Sometimes the other judges would look up the address of certain voters. Sometimes they would tell me stories about this person or that person. Nothing mean, of course, but they still shared stories. This had me thinking, did the election judges in Ramsey look up my address after I sauntered out? Yes, they probably did look me up. Voters and judges in Morgan Park taught me about Morgan Park history which was a sweet side benefit of working for Duluth today.

We had quite a few DTA (Duluth Transit Authority) bus drivers come in. One of them had really cute cowboy boots and I saw him walk here.

Several voters brought their kids in. I really like it when they bring their kids in to vote. They are setting a great example. Many voters came in and asked where the head judge was. "She is around here somewhere," we answered not wanting to tell the honest truth that she was in the john.

We switch jobs every hour. Once when it was my job to watch the voters put their ballots into the machine, I wheeled a super comfy office chair out the door and into the shade to get some fresh air. The day was muggy but the breeze was nice and I was very comfortable sitting in the shade by a beautiful garden. I ate my lunch outside. When a voter came, I opened the door for them, waited for them to sign in, vote, and I dashed in to watch them put their ballot into the machine. I use the word dash generously there. I went to open the door for some young man wearing a safety green vest. I told him I would get the door for him if I got there first. Some young people of color walked by. I asked if they were going to vote. They said, "No, thanks."

"OK!" I holler back, rethinking the wisdom of yelling at young people in a public park. I found a grove of apple trees in the park. I picked a green apple off of the grass. I brought the apple in and washed it. I bit into the apple around the bad spots just like I did when I was a kid. I ate a lot of sour green apples as a kid. "You are gong to get a belly ache!" I heard that often.

At 7:30 p.m. I sneak over to the giant fan. No voters are here. The other judges are busy. I quietly put my mouth close to the center of the fan spokes and say, "Vote Today!" I wanted to see if my voice would be distorted by the fan. I look around. I was glad no one heard or saw me. I couldn't hear my own voice that fan was so obnoxiously loud. By 7:45 p.m. we had 118 voters. Another judge mentioned that this was 10 percent voter turnout. I yelled "Whoop whoop!" and put my hands up in the air in a dance like the millennials dance. We all laughed. Today I learned the voter turn out for the city was 12 percent. Aww, Morgan Park brought the average down! Two more voters came in. The soggy signs came down and the flag came back inside. We closed the windows. We efficiently followed all the step by step instructions from the city. Our head judge read each line aloud. We worked like a well oiled machine.

Then we came to the page where we had to do the math. How many voters? How many spoiled ballots? How many ballots left? We put our heads together to figure it out. I said, "This reminds me of being a Girl Scout Cookie Mom."

Another judge smiled and asked, "How many years did you do that?"

"Ten!" I say, laughing. "I had cookies up to the ceiling in my house. One day I came home with my Girl Scout to find her brother laying on the floor moaning and holding his belly. Cases and boxes of cookies were scattered all  over the carpeting. It really looked like he ate himself sick on cookies!" We all laughed. By 8:30 we left that stuffy hall and the noisy fan for the night.

We all thanked each other for a really good day. Someone said, "See you in November."

I yelled back, "I am not sure about that. I might be traveling but maybe."

I drove out of Morgan Park at dusk. When I pulled onto to Hwy. 35 the street lights were coming on. I was tuckered out. I was so tuckered out I didn't even clean my dishes. I emptied my lunch box, put the extra food away, and left the dishes in the sink until morning. I took off the shoes I had been wearing since 5:30 a.m. Gosh, that felt good to take those sandals off. They are comfy Keen sandals but that is a long time to wear one pair of shoes.

So you would assume I slept in today. Wrong again. My eyes opened at six and for some unknown reason I was out of bed and ready for coffee.

The top four candidates for city council move on to the November election. The fifth place candidate, a woman, lost by a single vote. She says she is not going to ask for a recount. She says her time will come to be on the council some day. Smart woman!