Holy Cow, I’m a Poll Worker

In the digital age, polling places need some basic IT support

Hello, I’m a poll worker. Not just one of the people who sit at the table pointing you in the direction of one DS200 voting machine or another. I’m basically IT for the operation.

This happened totally by accident. I volunteered for poll duty and the Board of Elections signed me up as what they call a Poll Coordinator. Yes, I have a lot of analog duties like posting signs and watching for electioneering happening within 100 ft. of the polling place. But I’m also in charge of the machines and making sure that they effectively collect and tally the ballot sheets.

In other words, I’m the guy they call when the paper jams. Now, I’ve dealt with paper jams on printers (both my own and office ones) and some major jam ups on office copy machines, but I have never dealt with a paper jam that could affect the fate of our country.

The systems seem pretty fool-proof: touch screens I have to clean between each vote (“Clean the screens in a gentle circular motion! Stay away from the edges!”), and that I have to check to make sure no one has left behind a ballot or, more worrisome, some campaign paraphernalia to try and impact someone’s voting choice.