On a recent Friday a few friends and I gathered at a favorite breakfast place in Anchorage to gossip, discuss the news, exchange views, and eat the salty fatty breakfast versus the healthy one. The question of preserving democracy came up, and that led to a discussion about voting, and that led to reminiscing about being an election worker.
I was a little surprised to find out that three or four people around the table had worked as election workers in the past. I never have, but I was thinking about doing it this year. Civic duty and all that. I was settling in for a discussion about the ins and outs and wacky experiences of being an election worker when the chatter veered off in an unexpected direction.
One of the guys said, "What I remember the most about being an election worker are the cookies. Some little old blue-haired ladies brought in piles of wonderful homemade cookies for us." There was a brief burst of acclamation around the table among the former election workers about the heavenly cookies. In the momentary silence that followed, a quiet voice said, "Why thank you. I was one of those 'little old blue-haired ladies' that brought the homemade cookies."
That was a little awkward. But we're all friends.
Let's call the cookie lady, "Bea." Since I was sitting next to Bea at the table, and our breakfast companions had moved on to other topics, I started talking with her about my interest in being an election worker. I recounted that two or three months ago I had filled out a form on the Division of Elections website to be an election worker, but the completed form was not acknowledged and I never heard back from anyone.
Then a few weeks ago I thought, "Time for direct action!" With some effort I found a telephone number associated with the Division of Elections, called it, and connected with a friendly person on the other end. I told her I wanted to be an election worker. She took down some contact information and told me to report for training on a particular day and time at an address...in Juneau.
"But, um, I live in Anchorage." She apologized for not asking me at the outset where I lived and told me that she would forward my information to another person who would contact me about election work in Anchorage.
A few days later I got a call from another nice person from the Division of Elections who again took my contact information and told me to report for training on a particular day and time at an address...in Fairbanks. I clarified, she apologized, and now I was waiting again for another call from another nice person from the Division of Elections. But, as I told Bea, I was getting a little discouraged, and we were just days away from Primary Election Day.
Bea, an eminently practical person, advised me to go from breakfast directly to the State Division of Elections building in Midtown (2525 Gambell St., phone 907-522-8683) where I could both vote early and talk to an actual knowledgeable person in Anchorage about election work. And so I did.
Two days later, Sunday afternoon, I found myself back in that same building on Gambell sitting in a classroom for four hours going over every page of the Alaska Poll Worker's Manual. It was intense, detailed, procedural, and a bit overwhelming, but very interesting.
I came away with a tremendous appreciation for how the Division of Elections has built a complex system that safeguards the right of people to vote, protects the privacy of their vote, and has multiple layers of protections for the integrity of the system as a whole. Moreover, they have developed a system that trains and supports total newcomers to do their assigned job well. Pretty impressive. And we get $20 an hour. I thought it was a volunteer job.
I am now the proud owner of an Election Official Appointment Agreement to work on Aug. 20 and Nov. 5 as an election worker in Anchorage. My position is "Stand-by," so I am not certain I will work on those days, but I am ready if needed.
If you are interested, there are also other positions available for a couple of weeks on both sides of those dates doing things like staffing early polling sites, counting ballots, and so forth. You get paid, you work with nice people, you are a staunch supporter of democracy, and maybe in the back room you'll find a platter of homemade cookies.
