Blog: Jivin’ at the Election

I have had some pretty interesting election experiences in the past. From chasing down people to give them “I Voted” stickers, to suffering a war wound in the form of a paper cut, my unique encounters have been abundant. Last Tuesday was my third time being a Johnson County Election Worker. This time was unique because I was able to vote, and thus, actually knew who the candidates running were and had a definite opinion about the possible outcomes.

Waking up at 5 a.m. the morning of the election was a drag. However, a nice old lady named Doris brought some excellent blueberry muffins that helped me deal with the early start. Because I had already worked twice, I didn’t need much of a refresher in the techniques of setting up the polls and was able to relax a bit. You may think that “relaxing” for thirteen hours with nothing but my cell phone, my English book, and grape juice would get a little tedious, and you would be right. Luckily, I had some remarkable senior citizens to keep me company.

Two older couples that I worked with had been friends since high school. The women kept talking about how cute they thought their preacher was while the two men joked around about everything from their health problems, to their herb gardens, to the slightly weird tasting Chicken Tetrazzini one woman made for dinner the night before. I loved witnessing the dynamic between the two couples as it was almost like I was seeing some of my friends, just all grown up.

One of the men, joking with his wife, said, “You should read some of the things girls wrote about me in my yearbook. Or actually, maybe not.”

One of my favorite things about the technical process of the election is the voting machines. To be more specific, some people’s reactions to “the Machines”. It sometimes seems like I’m in a science fiction movie whenever I ask someone, “Now have you used…the Machines before?” Some people respond affirmatively in a positive tone, while others look on in terror as if the dreaded Machines are going to literally chomp up their vote and eat it. At one point in the day, one of the voting machines had an issue. We eventually fixed it and when we were done one of the men announced, “We jivin’ now!” Since then, I’ve made a point of using the word jivin’ as much as humanly possible.

That day I learned some amazing vocabulary, got to listen to some unique stories, and witnessed democracy in action. Not to mention, I got to see a man that looked and spoke identically to Christopher Walken. That was a treat.

I truly couldn’t get enough of these people and when the day ended, I was honestly sad to see them go. They all insisted that I had a good head on my shoulders and they wished they could see what I did with my life. One of the woman even took down my phone number and told me she would call and check up on me.

For all of you who are 18, I  strongly encourage you to vote in the next election and in the future. If you can’t vote yet, you can still become involved by educating yourself about the candidates and forming your own opinions. If you are itching to becoming a participant in the democratic process, you can be a student election worker at the polls and learn all about it. You’ll get to make some money, learn something new, and meet some truly awesome people.