Election [Training]Coverage

A few months back, I saw an ad somewhere that said election officers were needed. I thought it might be fun - be a part of the system, work the polls, etc, so I signed up for it.

Well, it was certainly different. Part of the "job" includes a 3+ hour training class with other people who've also signed up. To say they come from all walks of life is an understatement. Some were big, some were small; one woman in class was a klepto (she stole my handouts; claimed they were her own; when I pointed to my pen still clipped to them she nearly claimed that to be her own as well).

Class consists of both lecture and some hands-on work (setting up the voting machines, how to process voters, etc). Along the way, people ask the most amazing questions. For example, when setting up the voting machine, one trainee asked "which is the front and which is the back" - I suppose that's a reasonable question if you've never seen a television or computer (for those wondering, the "front" is the part with the screen, the "back" is the part with the power cord, just like your computer monitor).

Another question which sort of demonstrated the lack of logical thinking that was going on came up when discussing when it's appropriate to ask for ID and when it's not (it's only appropriate to ask for ID when the registration book says it is). The instructor was going through the list of what is and what is not appropriate, the following dialog took place:

Trainee: Is a green card an appropriate ID?
Trainer: No
Trainee: Why not, it has a name, photo, and address
Trainer: Ok, if you put it that way, it is. But a person who has a green card is not a citizen
Trainee: So?
Trainer: You need to be a citizen to vote in the United States
Trainee: Ohh....

It's funny now, but I know that when election night rolls around and I'm stuck in a room with a bunch of dumb people, I'm not going to be a happy camper.