Volunteering on front lines of democracy

I walked into my polling place for last week’s primary election and noticed only two stressed workers. I volunteered to help out and was quickly sworn in. Shortly, a district coordinator came in and asked if I would go to another nearby precinct that was being staffed by one volunteer. I said sure and took off.

As I approached the place, a Boys and Girls Club, a voter coming out said, “They are having a lot of problems in there.”

I’ll say. The main console for the voting machines was broken. After a few minutes on the phone to the county help line, I got it up and running.

My partner in crime, Bess, was also a conscript, but one with lots of experience as a poll volunteer. A sprightly 85-year-old swimmer, she didn’t understand the machines but was great on handling voters and the rosters.

Luckily for us, there was a poll-operators handbook and a cellphone for contacting the help desk.

Bess had them sign the rosters and then write the voter’s party and precinct number on a voting booth instruction sheet and asked them to hand the sheet to me.

I would punch the party and precinct number (one of two precincts) into the computer, which would print out a tab receipt with an access code on it. I would instruct the voter: “You are getting a (party name) ballot. Enter this number in the second screen. Do you know how to operate the machine?”

If they weren’t sure, I would take them to a booth and show them how the computer works. I did that lots, maybe once for every six voters. For some really old folks, I stayed in the booth and helped them vote.

The Boys and Girls Club became really noisy after school, with kids skating into the room wondering what’s going on. It made for a very interesting and long day.

I am a great critic of the computers because it makes voting more difficult.

One voter said, “They are punishing us because of the ignorance of people in Florida.” A couple of old coots complained about the foreign-language options: “If they can’t understand English “

I was surprised that so many Latinos were registered Republican, but this is Orange County.

The two precincts voted against the bonds for libraries and preschools but voted for the amendment outlawing eminent domain for developers. The Republicans voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Democrats for Phil Angelides.

By the time we closed the poll, ran the tapes and packed up everything, Bess and I were experts in running a democracy.

WILLIAM DUBAY

Costa Mesa