Day 79: The poll worker

I did my constitutional duty today and was surprised by the long lines for the voting machines. I could have been in and out of there in 15 minutes if I'd gone for the paper ballots. But the voting machines, to me, are still kind of novel. So I wanted to wait.

I also wanted to pray for the guy who logged me into the machine. So I waited, wondering which one I'd get and hoping it would be out of earshot of other voters. You never know what the response will be. 

On my turn, I was directed to a machine in the far corner, surrounded by three others. I thought at first this was probably a pretty good spot for my project. But as I was back there with the poll worker, I was struck by how silent it was. A woman was voting right next to me, and on the other side was an entire family, kids and all.

The poll worker was a friendly guy in his 50s who joked about how busy it was and how little help he seemed to have. He quickly recited a list of instructions to make sure I knew what I was doing, and then he started to walk away. I stopped him with my question.

He just looked at me once and said matter-of-factly, "You can do whatever you want." Then I was staring at his back as he walked back across the gymnasium to pick up another voter. So I prayed for him at roughly the same time as I dutifully voted against all the judges on the ballot.