Today is the election day. Somewhat, the election is held on Tuesday, a work day. At 7:00 AM in the morning, people lined to vote at polling stations. I volunteered to check polls and listened people's names are being pronounced and matched with the street addresses. Better turn-out is expected for this election. There could be a good turnout for the black voters, at least in Cambridge area, Massachusetts. A good turnout should be a good thing for the incumbent Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick.
"What is your address? What street number? Your name?" Stephen asked the voter. "Walden street? Then that's yours," he turned to Marianne. The voter list was sorted out according to street names in the alphabetical order. The first half is for Stephen, the last half is for Marianne. The voter said his name, and she looked up the huge list that was placed in front of her. "Evans?" she said. "Yes, that's me," the voter said. I look at my listing and checked whether his name was in the list, then marked the ID number. In a few hours, Tom will pick up the ID numbers. And the numbers will be checked against the listing so that we can go canvassing today to ask the voters to go to the poll stations. "We found you, you are all set," she said. She handed out the actual vote paper where the names of the candidates are listed along with a small round square that can be filled out with the pen. The pen, as we noticed, is a special 'voter pen' which has a telephone number written on it so that when you run out of the pen, you just can make a phone call. The voter went to the poll booth and started filling out the vote behind the curtain. Across the room, there are tables where the voters turns the sheet in. There the names and addresses are checked once again.
The process went on without problems most of the time. The voters came in, stated their names and addresses, took the sheet of paper and head for the booth. Some voters are very considerate and went as far to say to us "thank you for doing this". We returned by "our pleasure". Some voters came voting in cheerful mood. She said, "Deval Patrick is going to win," looking around. The air in the room was 'Democrat' and I felt comfortable agreeing with her. Some came with with canes and asked for chairs. "Last time, I was standing and I felt almost feinted," she claimed. Marianne gave her a chair. Some came with wrong street names. "There is no such street. You might have to go to another polling stations," she said. It turned out that her registration was in the previous address, which is in our list and she could vote.
It was dark when I came in to this polling station, but when I got out, it was bright and sunny out. When I got back to the office, people were making phone calls and I went for canvassing. I went to the nearby place for canvassing with a door hanging sign says VOTE TODAY. "My name is Erica, I came from Deval Patrick's election office. Today is the election day. May I ask a few questions? Have you voted already?" I said. When the answer was yes, I asked them whether they have voted for Deval Patrick. The answers happened to have been all yes and I wished them the very best. "Thank you. Thank you for voting." said I. Some people answered to my question, "No, I have not voted yet, but I will," he said. I asked the same question all the same. "Are you going to vote for Deval Patrick?" and he said, "Yes, rather, I will". I thanked him and wished him the best.
"What is your address? What street number? Your name?" Stephen asked the voter. "Walden street? Then that's yours," he turned to Marianne. The voter list was sorted out according to street names in the alphabetical order. The first half is for Stephen, the last half is for Marianne. The voter said his name, and she looked up the huge list that was placed in front of her. "Evans?" she said. "Yes, that's me," the voter said. I look at my listing and checked whether his name was in the list, then marked the ID number. In a few hours, Tom will pick up the ID numbers. And the numbers will be checked against the listing so that we can go canvassing today to ask the voters to go to the poll stations. "We found you, you are all set," she said. She handed out the actual vote paper where the names of the candidates are listed along with a small round square that can be filled out with the pen. The pen, as we noticed, is a special 'voter pen' which has a telephone number written on it so that when you run out of the pen, you just can make a phone call. The voter went to the poll booth and started filling out the vote behind the curtain. Across the room, there are tables where the voters turns the sheet in. There the names and addresses are checked once again.
The process went on without problems most of the time. The voters came in, stated their names and addresses, took the sheet of paper and head for the booth. Some voters are very considerate and went as far to say to us "thank you for doing this". We returned by "our pleasure". Some voters came voting in cheerful mood. She said, "Deval Patrick is going to win," looking around. The air in the room was 'Democrat' and I felt comfortable agreeing with her. Some came with with canes and asked for chairs. "Last time, I was standing and I felt almost feinted," she claimed. Marianne gave her a chair. Some came with wrong street names. "There is no such street. You might have to go to another polling stations," she said. It turned out that her registration was in the previous address, which is in our list and she could vote.
It was dark when I came in to this polling station, but when I got out, it was bright and sunny out. When I got back to the office, people were making phone calls and I went for canvassing. I went to the nearby place for canvassing with a door hanging sign says VOTE TODAY. "My name is Erica, I came from Deval Patrick's election office. Today is the election day. May I ask a few questions? Have you voted already?" I said. When the answer was yes, I asked them whether they have voted for Deval Patrick. The answers happened to have been all yes and I wished them the very best. "Thank you. Thank you for voting." said I. Some people answered to my question, "No, I have not voted yet, but I will," he said. I asked the same question all the same. "Are you going to vote for Deval Patrick?" and he said, "Yes, rather, I will". I thanked him and wished him the best.