Election Day December 5, 2006
By: Hubert Crowell
Who would know that today was election day? You have not heard anything about it in the news, that some states are having a runoff election today.
Runoff election days would be a good time to show appreciation to all those people behind the scenes, the volunteer poll workers. I say volunteers because the pay is so meager, they would have to be volunteers. At our voting location we have a dedicated group of retired people that get up at 4 AM and arrive at the voting location at 5:45 AM to get the polls ready for the 7 AM opening. Although the polls close at 7 PM, they still have a lot of work to do and will not leave until about 8:30 PM. They bring their lunch as they cannot leave during the day. That's a 15 hour day, plus a couple of hours the day before setting up the polling machines. Why do they do it?
There are also other volunteers that you never hear about. In our state, polling places could be school's, church's, library's or other public buildings. Someone has to open these facilities up on election day and in some cases remain on the premises in case there is a problem.
All of this so that we can exercise our right to vote. We could show our appreciation to these dedicated people by at least stopping by during the day and saying thanks. There will be no lines, The workers will be bored and eager to have a visitor or two, even if you don't vote.
So if your state is having a runoff election day, remember the poll workers. They are protecting your rights and in these times that is a very precious and rare thing.
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