Upper Elementary Guide Shannon Welsh has been working as a poll worker at her local polling station for the past six years. Here she describes what the job and the experience is like:
The first time I went to Hillside Middle School to cast my vote as a resident of Ward 2 in Manchester, NH, I noticed that all of the workers appeared to be older, probably retired residents of our community. They smiled and showed folks where to get their ballot and where to put their pens when they were done voting. I couldn’t help but notice that there were no younger members of my local community among them. I asked the ward moderator how one would become a person who works at the polling place on Election Day, and so began my entrance into the Ward 2 election worker community.
I’ve worked ten elections now, first as a volunteer ballot clerk and later as an elected official, one of three selectmen in our Ward. I’ll admit: it was incredibly exciting to see my name on the ballot, and I was excited to vote for myself! I’m often asked what my title means and what my job responsibilities entail. I’m not on any governing board, and I don’t get to meet with the mayor; that’s the job of the aldermen in Manchester. My job is a simple, yet sometimes daunting one: ensure a free and fair election each Election Day. Voting and having a say in our government is both a right and responsibility, and it cannot happen without the hard work of the people who facilitate this process. I felt that working during elections was one way to show my commitment to the democratic process and to serve my local community.
The work actually begins the night before Election Day, setting up the polling booths, the tables and chairs for the checklist and the absentee ballot station, posting sample ballots and notices, and marking the area where campaigns are allowed to stand with signs. In the morning, when my alarm sounds at 4:15am, I get dressed and ready, pack plenty of snacks and a cushion for the uncomfortable folding chairs, and haul my coffee maker to the middle school. My goal is to have a piping hot pot of fresh caffeine ready when everyone else arrives at 5am. While not part of my official duties as selectman, I inherited this task from my predecessor, who served as Ward 2 selectman for nearly 20 years. I don’t like to let him down, having given my promise that he can rest easy when he now sleeps in on Election Day, knowing I’m providing the coffee.
There are many people who make elections happen in our city. We have a moderator, a clerk, three selectmen, four deputy registrar officials, and as many ballot clerks as we can get to volunteer for the long, sometimes 18-hour day. Beyond the minutia associated with setting up the polling place, all of our roles focus on one main thing: customer service. We want each person who comes to vote to have as short a wait as possible, a stress-free check in, and a smooth experience as they exercise their right to vote. We take pride in our voter turnout–we actually have a text going back and forth throughout the day with the other wards to report our numbers–and we want as many people as possible to experience voting as a smooth and easy process.
Our day winds down late at night. We count ballots, put away tables and chairs, pack boxes of supplies, certify the results, sign lots of papers, and then pack everything in someone’s car and head to City Hall. We wait to turn in our materials, have everything verified by the City Clerk, and eventually head home and crawl into bed, knowing we’ve done a hard day’s work. Beyond this, I always fall asleep thinking about the citizens of my community and how they rest that night, knowing they had a say in their own government.
I deeply value participation in one’s community, either by volunteerism or other service; this value is one reason why I originally fell in love with Montessori education. In our classroom communities, we place importance not only on the development of each individual, but also on the development of the individual as they move and work within their community. Many of our lessons involve expressing gratitude to the humans who came before us, and we have weekly meetings of our class to discuss problems and propose solutions. My work as an election official offers me the opportunity to model for my own children and the children in my classroom the idea that to belong to a community is to work within and for that community.