Guess what I’ll be doing April 17th?
I spent my Saturday training to be an equipment manager for the next election in Cook County. I’ll be responsible for setting up and trouble-shooting the optical scanner and touch screen voting machines. It was actually kind of fun to learn something absolutely new and get a behind-the-curtain peek at how the voting process works.
Training is pretty extensive, as it should be–there’s a lot of potential to screw up. Yesterday we learned about setting up the touchscreens, activating the cards used for voting, and transmitting the votes at the end of the day. Wednesday I have another session on the optical scanner.
It’s been quite a while since I had to take a test. Each section was followed by a hands-on and written test which felt strange. And you don’t pass, you don’t get the gig.
It should make for an interesting experience. The 17th will be a very long day since I have to be at the polling station at 5 a.m.(!!) and the polls don’t close until 7, followed by packing up and transmitting votes. Fortunately, they seemed to have corrected the problem that delayed transmitting votes in the November election (the first time touchscreens were used in Cook County) and it made for an all-night nightmare for many concerned.
2 Things @ Once 
I think that you might be the first person I’ve ever “known” who’s part of the election board. That is way cool. Training in my part of the US would only involve learning how to sharpen a pencil– we’re a bit backward in this township and vote the old-fashioned way.