On Nov 3, 2020, more than 3,000 citizens voted at my polling location. This election was under extraordinary circumstances, with Covid-19, but, as a first-time poll worker,  I (and my fellow volunteers) were excited to help Maryland during this extraordinary time. The pressure of the unprecedented turnout on a small, but hard-working group of volunteers, and the rudeness of the voters were a surprise. Together, these factors made this my first–and probably last–time volunteering.

Why I volunteered to be an election worker

It’s like giving blood for the Red Cross. If Red Cross volunteers can get students in high school to donate blood, very often those young people become life-long donors.  So, it’s the same idea:  a young poll worker may continue to volunteer for life. 

Since I was a child, I always knew how important it is to have a voice in democracy. This is instilled by my great-grandmother, Mary McKee, who demanded everyone in the family vote because she had lived during a time where some couldn’t. 

My grandmother, Bonnie Goundry said, “The first thing my mother did when she moved to Washington, D.C. was register to vote.”

The memory of these strong women inspired me to act.

In December 2019, the Frederick County Government Board of Elections and League of Women Voters came to our school to help students register to vote and or sign up to serve as election judges. I knew my grandma had volunteered with the League of Women Voters for years, and I knew it was something I was interested in participating. (At the time, I also saw volunteering as  an easy way to make some extra cash.)

I was planning to work at the polls for the primary election, and was trained, in the spring. But, with Covid-19, Governor Hogan wanted citizens to be able to vote without jeopardizing their health. This resulted in the 2020 primary being done through mail-in ballots only.

In July, I received an email that Maryland was moving forward with the option of voting in person for the general election. As I am an a young athlete, I felt that I was at less risk than the older election judges and poll workers, and it is my responsibility to volunteer. 

A statistic from the Pew Research Center reveals, “In the 2018 general election, around six-in-ten U.S. poll workers (58%) were ages 61 and older.” It makes sense that they needed my younger energy.

Preparing for the big day

I had additional training to work the check in computers, the ballot marking devices, and the new procedures with Covid-19, including what to do if someone doesn’t want to wear a mask, or about the PPE provided to election workers. 

What I was not trained to do was handle voters who were already emotionally stressed about the act of voting in person.

It is like being a policeman at an airport.  Most people are afraid to fly, and their arrivals and departures cause a lot of emotion. Perhaps they are leaving family, or flying for a job, or returning home from military service. An airport, then, has the underlying atmosphere of anxiety. Policemen often deal with people who are emotionally distressed, and they have to take into consideration that these citizens are probably acting differently than they normally do.

It’s the same with this election.

With this election in particular, many people had strong opinions on who to vote for, and I knew everyone would come out to make their voice heard. Even more important, there have been rumors in the news that the vote would not be fair–this anxiety about whether a ballot would be counted made the electorate more on edge.

My primary goal was to make sure the election was fair, accessible to everyone, and to help to protect the integrity of the election.

The night before the election all the election judges were required to meet at Linganore High School to help set up and ask any last-minute questions. We set up the voting booths and electronic poll books so we would be ready the next morning.

All of the volunteers were so friendly and excited to be part of the 2020 election process.  The election workers were a mix of different parties, and that did not seem to matter. We all had one goal and that was to keep the election running smoothly and as efficiently as possible.

Election Day, November 3, 2020: The Longest Day

We were required to be at the school at 5:30 am to ensure the computers were up by 6 a.m., so in case any problems would occur we would still have them fixed before the first voter arrived at 7:00 a.m.

When the polls opened, there were already more than 200 voters in line. That meant we all went straight to work. I was assigned to be a check-in judge, which entailed checking voters’ registration information and using the electronic poll-book, which prints out the voter authentication card that is used to obtain the ballot and helps with anything from providing a voter’s assistance paper to making corrections to a voter registration. 

I was excited to have this responsibility.

I checked-in over 600 voters, which was 20% of everyone who voted at my polling place on election day. Both the voter and the poll workers were, of course, required to wear masks, and we also had protective plexiglass that made the social interaction part of the job much harder. 

As many of you know it is very hard to understand people with a mask on, and when people are spelling,  it is almost impossible. With many different spellings for names, it was also hard to guess how to spell the name correctly.  I tried hard to get it right.

A couple voters even said, “Can’t you even spell?” or  “I don’t understand why it is so hard!” Throughout the day, I was almost in tears. A lot of people were kind, but at the end of the long day, the meanest voters were the ones who left a mark.

Shirley Haley, a long time poll worker, said, “Most people were grateful for our help and efficiency–and expressed their thanks.  There were always a few who were tired, grumpy, or pressed for time,but that’s to be expected.  A sympathetic word or cheerful smile usually was enough to move on.”  Haley has since retired from her volunteer service.  I did not feel the same.

It would have been so much easier on everyone if an election judge could ask for ID and even better if the voter had the ability to scan their id, and we could just confirm the information. But because of Md. Election Code Ann. §10-310, an election judge cannot ask for an ID.  

In Maryland voters verify their identify by using a non-documentary ID. That meant voters were also asked to provide their names and/or addresses and partial date of birth.

In 2011 Delegates of MD debated requiring photo ID to vote. Most of them said that it would halt any attempts at voter fraud. Delegate Kathy Afzali brought up a problem with having to show voter IDs. She explained that people don’t always have photo identification and are turned away from voting.

Maryland League of Women Voters President, Nancy Soreng opposed saying that the voting system already has enough protection against fraud, and this bill would be burdensome and discriminatory toward voters. Delegates and witnesses ended up objecting to Kipke’s bill, by saying that having to show ID would create more confusion at the polls and was not worth it. This ultimately led to not having to show ID at the poll.

This debate had unintended consequences for poll workers like me. The lack of ID process was frustrating for both the voters and the poll workers and could have been much more efficient. 

The lack of polling places also added to delays. We had a new voter every 14 seconds all day long (which I figured out after some quick mental math). In the 2018 election, there were 63 polling places in Frederick County, and in the 2020 election there were 14 polling places.  Of course, logically, this was because of the fear of infection, but it created more of a mess!

Maryland’s State Elections Board voted to reduce 90% of polling places. This proposal helped to deal with a shortage of poll workers.

Chief Judge Lev Evans said “In my opinion, the thing that really set this election year apart from others was the coronavirus and all of the turmoil and upset that engendered.”

Lessons Learned

On one hand, I celebrate the number of new voters who came to vote for the first time–like I did myself this year. And, fewer polling places because of fewer available volunteers makes sense, too.

While 81.75% of voters in Frederick County voted early or by mail, my polling place was still swamped. Thirteen percent of the people in Frederick County who voted were present at the high school where I was working.

What a long day that was.

So, the lack of available help kept me glued to my seat, since every time I was going to get up, a new voter came to check in. I felt bad that people waited in line, for up to and more than, an hour and the line to just for it to go slower when I got up. But the elections workers could only sit for so long without a break. 

While I will most likely not be participating in being an election judge again, I hope that the people who are running the election implement changes that can make this experience better and result in more people wanting to be part of the election process.