Having a mom who is a chief election inspector has taught me more about the voting process than I ever thought existed. The way that voting works isn't exactly what I expected, and I don't think it is what the public expects it to be either. Now I'm from Wisconsin, so I can't speak for other states, but here in Wisconsin, regular voting is exactly what it seems. You stand in line, state your name and address, show photo id, receive your ballot, vote, then turn it in to the optical scanning device. What you don't know is that behind the scenes, when voting closes the workers have to go back and count each and every ballot to make sure the numbers are correct. If this was all that the inspection workers had to do, their jobs would be easy. Unfortunately, certain things the public does can make their positions more difficult.
Early voting and absentee voting is a great thing. It was created for college students who can't come home on a Tuesday to vote. It was made for people who are overseas living or serving but still wish to vote. Created for people who live in a different state for certain times of the year, but want to vote in their hometown. People who physically can't make it to the polls on election day. Unfortunately, many citizens early vote because they don't want to stand in line or take time go to the poll office on election day. Many political parties actually push for people to get out and early vote, as if this somehow makes your vote more meaningful. This isn't what absentee and early voting was created for. Don't get me wrong, exercise your right to vote any way you want to! What you don't understand is what happens behind the scenes.
At my office in the small town of a couple thousand, the workers spend up to 11 hours working with just absentee and early voter ballots. Some polling offices even have to hire an extra person just to deal with this. When you fill out a ballot early, it doesn't just get magically counted. It is stored in a vault until election day. On the day of voting, an election inspector has to stand in line with your ballot, say your name and address aloud, then go to the machine and run it through. The inspector then gets in line with another ballot, since they must be done one at a time. So by saving yourself the time standing in line, you are actually making someone else stand in your place. Essentially, you are giving up your right to the voting process. You are simply a number on a ballot.
The cost of early voting and absentee ballots are greater than most expect. It costs you as a taxpayer more than a regular vote on election day would. The city of Milwaukee will spend $200,000 on early voting during the upcoming election. Obviously, Milwaukee is a big city and will spend more than small towns. No matter the size though, more of your tax dollars are going towards early voting than traditional voting.
While we are on the topic of voting, keep in mind your use of write-ins. Did you know that every time you write in a candidate, the whole ballot has to be counted separately? When you turn in your ballot, it gets counted with the rest of the ballots. At the end of the night, the workers are given a number of ballots with write-ins on. They then have to search through the stacks of ballots, find the write-ins, and count them separately on a tally sheet. Your vote for "Mickey Mouse," "Spongebob," or "Mike Oxbig," isn't doing anything productive for our country, makes that much more work for your polling workers, and wastes your time coming in to vote. By all means, express your right to vote, but by voting for silly write in candidates, you aren't making more work for the government; just your neighborhood poll workers.
Be nice to your poll workers and election inspectors. I hate to see my mom come home frustrated after a day working the polls. Yelling at these poll workers does nothing but make you look like a jerk. Its not their fault that you don't like the voter ID law or the voting process - they just have to enforce it. If you are too lazy to go stand in line to vote, remember how much work you are making for someone else, and what else you are giving up. Use voting the traditional way, but if early voting or absentee voting is in your best interest, then by all means do it! So this election season, lets take it easy on our poll workers.
