Working the Polls on Election Day: Surprises, Lessons

For the mid-term General Election held on Nov. 8, 2022, I was a poll worker at one of the Martinsburg voting locations.

I have followed politics for years, kind of like the way some people follow a sports team. I understand that politics and voting is important, but there’s also an element to it that is like watching a sports season. Your team wins some and loses some and it’s entertaining (to me) to “discuss” with others the reasons behind the wins and losses. And, of course, there’s the Monday-morning quarterbacking where I get to pretend that I have deep insight into the “game” that I watched and that I could (of course) have handled it better than the coach did.

Because of my interest in politics, I had considered being a poll worker before. However, two things kept me from signing up: 1) Generally, I have not held jobs that would permit me to miss an entire Tuesday of work, and 2) As a journalist, I was always sensitive to the fact that I did not want to be perceived by my readers as strongly partisan.

But destiny opened a window this year and I was able to sign up. I had the pleasure of working with Evelyn Madison, judge of elections; Dianna Snyder, majority inspector; Dana Weaver, minority inspector; and Nancy Barnett, clerk. I also served as a clerk. We manned the polls at the Martinsburg Elementary School library, which was Martinsburg Borough Precinct 01.

While the majority of the day was uneventful, there were a few events which surprised me. I’ll describe those events and then state the lesson that I learned from each.

Incident: ‘I want to file a complaint’

We had no problems and no difficulties with trespassers or people being difficult. Early on, one voter did state that he wished to “file a complaint.” The voter said that he objected to a message on a garment being worn by someone outside the polling place.

Judge of Elections Madison discussed the matter with the voter, but it turned out that there wasn’t actually much that we could do. It seemed that the message which upset the voter was a political exhortation printed on a garment, which is legal as long as the garment with the message is not worn inside the actual polling place.

Furthermore, it seems that on-site formal objections can only be filed regarding poll workers, not the conduct of members of the public outside of the polling place. The upset voter was not worried about the conduct of any of us, the poll workers, so after that was explained to him, he went on his way.

Lesson: Don’t wear any clothing with any political message when you go to vote, not even a hat. If you do, you will be asked to remove the garment or turn it inside out.

Incident: Where the heck am I supposed to vote?

We did have a few voters who had moved and were confused about where they were supposed to vote. For obvious reasons, voters are only allowed to vote at one place and that place is set by the county elections office prior to election day. However, people get busy and don’t check to be sure where to vote. The result is that they were not on the official list at our precinct.

Note that if this happens to you, it doesn’t mean that you can’t vote. It means that you can cast a provisional ballot. In this case, county elections officials need more time to determine the voter’s eligibility to vote. A provisional ballot records your vote while the county board of elections determines (within seven days after the election) whether you were eligible to vote at the election district where you cast the provisional ballot. If you are eligible, they will count your provisional ballot.

Lesson: Contact the county elections office before election day to be sure. The Blair County Voter Registration Office can be reached by phone at (814) 693-3150 or by email. Check the website at https://www.blairco.org/departments/elections-voter-registration

There is also a county website that can help you determine where you should vote. You can find it at https://gis.blairco.org/apps/ElectionPollingPlaces/

Incident: ‘I want to vote straight ticket’

A voter wearing a hat stating that he was a World War II veteran (Respect!) requested help voting and stated that he wanted to vote a straight ticket. Straight-ticket voting