I got my provisional voter at 7:28 pm with 2 minutes to spare! Last voter of the night.
He cast a Republican ballot which I was counting on. You see, I had accidentally grabbed a Republican ballot for the second 17-year-old girl but caught my mistake before she could mark it up and I gave her the correct ballot. But I had already marked a big “X” in the corner of the ballot which makes them unreadable by the machine counter. I was holding on to it in hopes of a provisional voter using it so I wouldn’t have to mark it as a spoiled ballot and document my error.
My partner at the table was really gung-ho to start packing things away early and I kept saying we should keep things in place to process a voter up to the last minute. You never know, that R provisional voter could still show up. The polls are open until 7:30 means the polls are open until 7:30. But she just kept tearing shit down. So when I heard him walk up and announce to the roster judge that he needed to cast a provisional ballot I had to scramble to retrieve the necessary materials she had rushed to pack away. (He was registered but still had an out-of-state ID. I informed him he has 4 days to present a valid Ohio ID at the Board of Elections in order for his vote to count.) And then I had to call several times for her to get her ass back to the table and double check his ballot envelope. Ugh. I like everyone else I work with at that polling location but she just grates on my nerves. She doesn’t really understand the process and everything she does on her own, thinking she’s helping, is just a nuisance that slows things down.
Sorry, just had to vent. But everything came out seamlessly and I was vindicated for trying to keep the store open until closing time. We can break down a lot of shit in the final 30 minutes but a certain minimum set of accoutrements need to be present in order to process a voter even up to the last minute. If I’m stuck with her again in November then I’ll remind her of tonight’s ordeal. Yes, I know it feels like no one else is going to come, but as long as the polls are open we have to be prepared for the possibility.
Today was really slow. November is probably going to be insane.