From the Minority Inspector at Ward 11-1: WOO HOO it's over!

So after all was said and done, I am now addicted to the democratic process. We were a team, the four of us, Minority Inspector (me), Minority Clerk (Ann), Judge (Sheila) and Jerome, I forget what his "title" was. We all agreed we wanted to be a team next election.

It wasn't until we found the pay slips that we found the "Plain English" translation of the referendum, which boiled down to, do you agree that Pennsylvania should borrow money so they can pay folks that fought in the Persian Gulf War.

As the Minority Inspector, I got a huge envelope to take home which has general election results. I have to keep it for a year in case something happens (hanging chads?).

This was the first big election with the new electronic machines, which are basically touch screen and very easy but folks were pretty intimidated at first.

We had visits from poll watchers from the Green Party and the League of Women Voters, as well as technicians and rovers, everyone making sure the system was working. Which it was. We had great voter turnout and only a few people with bad attitudes.

I got to see a few folks from Bellefield and the OD and got to place names to faces of folks from the Highland Park list-serv.

Adrenaline and coffee is what me got through a day that started at 6:30 am and ended at 8:55 pm. I took two breaks: one in the morning, to get coffee and vote, and one in the evening to eat at home, watch Friends and call Bird. She voted this morning, as did my mom. I don't know about Dad, since he's in Michigan--I assume he took care of it by absentee.

Most used phrases by me today:

"What street do you live on?"
"Oh, you're at the other table" (We had two polls in our one very small school vestibule.) (And their table had a bigger turnout.)
"Spell that for me" (There were a lot of C names that sounded like S names.)

If you keep your stub, you can get a cookie at Tazza's and a cup of coffee at Eat and Park.