It's the day after the big election and I have three reactions. (1) I am disappointed. As expected, the candidates I wanted actually lost and I admit that I am concerned about the future of our great country. But, guess what? The sun still came up this morning. God is still in control. He knew what would happen and He knows what the future holds. Put your faith in a man and you will be disappointed and let down. Put your trust in Christ and He is faithful. (2) I am exhausted. Yesterday was very exhausting. We put in 16 hours of hard work conducting the election. We had folks in line when I arrived at 5:50. When we opened at 7:00 the line stretched around the building and I couldn't see the end. We processed hundreds of folks in the first few hours. For the day, we had over 1,400 voters, plus enough absentee ballots to bring us to about 1,500 which is close to 80% of our precinct or about 150% of our previous high vote. We could now use some rest! (3) I am amused. Observing human reactions and human nature is frustrating if you take it too seriously, and amusing if you just stop and enjoy it. We had folks upset when we didn't open the polls at 6 a.m. We had folks upset when they arrived after 8 p.m. and couldn't vote. The legal hours for voting have always been 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. - but who bothers with that. We had folks registered in Leola and in Reading who thought they could just drop by and vote with us. I prepared all sorts of direction signs but folks ignored them. We continually had folks come in the door marked exit ignoring the ones marked enter here. I even added more arrows to direct them better ... they still came in the wrong way. I did it a third time and when that didn't work I just gave up and laughed. We had folks who couldn't get in the correct line, A to N or O to Z. Many failed to stop at the signs which essentially said, "line begins here, wait until you are called". And then there were the signs, "please turn off all cell phones". And we had folks talking on phones while registering and phones ringing while folks were in the privacy booths. Some ignored directions and tried to register at the poll watchers' table. And, of course, there were folks who didn't know what to do even though they had passed at least four signs which explained the process used in the past four elections. On the positive side, we only had 12 voters who messed up their ballots by not following instructions and only a few who ignored our escan instructions and tried to ram their ballot through the scanner before the receipt was torn off. Such action can jam the scanner which forces folks to wait in line until we can open it, clear it, and reset it. One has to wonder how many folks actually function in life and how they can make intelligent, informed decisions, including who to elect as president. They sure have trouble following entrance signs .... with multiple arrows added. Well, time to enjoy the sun which has risen again today .... or maybe take a nap.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
The Day After
It's the day after the big election and I have three reactions. (1) I am disappointed. As expected, the candidates I wanted actually lost and I admit that I am concerned about the future of our great country. But, guess what? The sun still came up this morning. God is still in control. He knew what would happen and He knows what the future holds. Put your faith in a man and you will be disappointed and let down. Put your trust in Christ and He is faithful. (2) I am exhausted. Yesterday was very exhausting. We put in 16 hours of hard work conducting the election. We had folks in line when I arrived at 5:50. When we opened at 7:00 the line stretched around the building and I couldn't see the end. We processed hundreds of folks in the first few hours. For the day, we had over 1,400 voters, plus enough absentee ballots to bring us to about 1,500 which is close to 80% of our precinct or about 150% of our previous high vote. We could now use some rest! (3) I am amused. Observing human reactions and human nature is frustrating if you take it too seriously, and amusing if you just stop and enjoy it. We had folks upset when we didn't open the polls at 6 a.m. We had folks upset when they arrived after 8 p.m. and couldn't vote. The legal hours for voting have always been 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. - but who bothers with that. We had folks registered in Leola and in Reading who thought they could just drop by and vote with us. I prepared all sorts of direction signs but folks ignored them. We continually had folks come in the door marked exit ignoring the ones marked enter here. I even added more arrows to direct them better ... they still came in the wrong way. I did it a third time and when that didn't work I just gave up and laughed. We had folks who couldn't get in the correct line, A to N or O to Z. Many failed to stop at the signs which essentially said, "line begins here, wait until you are called". And then there were the signs, "please turn off all cell phones". And we had folks talking on phones while registering and phones ringing while folks were in the privacy booths. Some ignored directions and tried to register at the poll watchers' table. And, of course, there were folks who didn't know what to do even though they had passed at least four signs which explained the process used in the past four elections. On the positive side, we only had 12 voters who messed up their ballots by not following instructions and only a few who ignored our escan instructions and tried to ram their ballot through the scanner before the receipt was torn off. Such action can jam the scanner which forces folks to wait in line until we can open it, clear it, and reset it. One has to wonder how many folks actually function in life and how they can make intelligent, informed decisions, including who to elect as president. They sure have trouble following entrance signs .... with multiple arrows added. Well, time to enjoy the sun which has risen again today .... or maybe take a nap.
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