Working the Polls
Our First Time as Poll Workers
On November 3, 2026 Mary Beth and I spent over 14 hours as poll workers at an election site in Richmond Indiana.
The setting was a polling location at an African-American Baptist church. The day was peaceful and cooperative, with no disruptions, no illegal electioneering, no protests, and no threats. However, the process of helping over 400 people vote during the 12 hours the poll was open was a physical, psychological, and vocal marathon.
Training and Arrival
Polls were open from 6am to 6pm. We arrived at 5am, along with five other poll workers. They included an owner of local rental properties, a home school advocate, a teacher, and a gardener and marketer of tonics and fermented foods. We left most of our lunches, snacks, and extra drinks in a break room and then unlocked the room in which voting would happen.
The equipment and supplies for the voting process had been delivered by the county voter registration office the day before. Later one we were disappointed that the printer for printing out ballots was delivered low on paper with no backup paper. A cable to hook one of the machines to a printer was missing. These things were delivered last-minute by the voter registration office.
We all took a very long oath to uphold the constitution of the US and the state of Indiana. We also had to affirm that we had not bet on the election, we were not a close relative to a candidate, and many other things. I will reproduce the entire oath at the bottom of this post!
Poll workers had gone through a training process in the weeks prior to the election. Mary Beth and I agreed that the training could have been better organized. It hit on several important topics but failed to go through the process that we would face on election day in a precise, step-by-step manner. And we, especially, as first-time poll workers, were a bit unsure of exactly how the day would unfold.
This was on top of the fact that we hadn't been in a poll for decades, let along worked at one. We, along with about 80% of Arizona voters, had been voting by mail for a long time. Indiana allows voting absentee mail-in ballots, but only for people over 65 and those who, for a variety of reasons, cannot come to the polls on election day.
Once the voting started, poll workers would not be allowed to leave the building, so we made sure we had everything we needed from the car. We were divided into four roles. The person in charge was the Inspector. There were two Clerks, two Judges, and two Floaters. In each of the latter three roles, one had to be a Republican and one a Democrat. The Inspector was a Republican. So, the partisan mix among poll workers was four Republicans and three Democrats. I was a Judge and Mary Beth was a Floater. Floaters greeted voters and directed them into the correct door. They also took over for Clerks or Judges if they needed to eat or go to the restroom.
Set Up and Procedure
Setting up equipment, though ultimately successful, seemed a little chaotic. It was done in part with reliance on the Inspector's hand-written training notes and her memory of past experience as a poll worker.
Here's how it was supposed to work. Voters would begin by visiting the Clerks' table. The equipment there consisted of two I-Pads set up to scan voter IDs (mostly drivers licenses) and confirm the voter's current address. This process was held up briefly due to the Wi-Fi going down but that was fixed quickly. The voter's address was important because there were several different ballots available based on where they lived. The ballots were the same for state-wide issues but towns and school districts had different local races. (You can view all the Wayne County sample ballots here.)
If an address on a driver's license didn't match county records, a change-of-address form could be filled out. If there was no record of being registered to vote, they would be issued a provisional ballot that would have to be confirmed later at the county building.
At the Judges' table, the ticket would be scanned and a judge would print out a ballot corresponding to the voter's address.
The other Judge and I worked out that I would scan the ticket and he would press print. While the printer was (rather slowly) printing out the ballot, he would explain that the boxes on the ballot could be marked by filling the box in completely, making an X, or making a ✓. The important thing was not to mark outside the box!
After the ballot was printed out, I would explain that there was an option to make a straight party-line vote in partisan races. This is not something Mary Beth and I had seen before.
A party-line vote meant they could just vote for all the Republican candidates, the Democrat candidates, the Libertarian candidates, or the Lincoln Party candidates. Then they would not have to fill out individual races. The election administrator wanted us to tell them that this option would not affect the non-partisan races at the end of the ballot (some school boards, retention of judges, etc.).
After our spiels about the ballot, we would each initial the ballot and hand it to the voter. The voter would take the ballot to the voter kiosk (consisting of four desks in a circle divided by privacy screens) and fill it out.
After filling out the ballot they would go to a scanner by the exit door and feed in the ballot. The scanner would make a judgement about the validity of the ballot. If there were no unclear markings, it would drop the ballot into a bag in a locked chamber below. If the voter drew outside the lines of the check boxes or voted for two many choices in a race, the scanner would spit it back out. The voter then could have their ballot "spoiled" and get a new one. Or they could press a button on the screen to accept the ballot as is, which would mean that their answers on the improperly filled out question(s) would be nullified but all the others would be counted.
That was how the process was supposed to work. And, in fact, that was how it did work in the vast majority of cases. There was an additional machine that would allow a person with sight or hearing disabilities to use Braille or earphones. Only one person voted with that machine, with assistance from the Inspector.
How the Day Went
In a somewhat quaint tradition, when the poll opened at 6am the Inspector was required to go outside and announce loudly that "The polls are now open." No one was there. (At 6pm when the poll closed, she was required to announce its closing. No one was there.)
It was not long before a couple voters came through on their way to an early job. They went through the process just fine except that we judges forgot to initial the first ballot before the voter marked it. We were able to initial it after he filled it out and before he put it in the scanner. We studiously avoided looking at how he marked the ballot by placing a piece of paper over it while initialing!
When we told voters not to mark outside the boxes, several of them joked that they had always been told to "think outside the box." Funny.
One problem we encountered with a few voters was an Internet rumor claiming that if poll workers wrote on your ballot, it will be disqualified. The opposite is true. Poll workers were required to initial the ballot. This proved that a Republican and Democrat judge had checked that the ballot was correct. In fact, without initials the ballot would be disqualified. There is plenty of information online debunking the rumor, including this report from a news station in Chicago. (Although Chicago is not in Indiana, Illinois' polling process is similar to ours.)
A few voters were very distressed that we were writing on their ballot. It would have been helpful if the voting authorities had warned us about this rumor so that we would be prepared to tell voters about it.
There was substantial interest in making straight party votes. Sometimes even before their ballot was printed, a voter would ask how they could vote that way. I understood the desire, since it would simplify and speed up the process. However, when Mary Beth and I voted (at an early voting poll at the County building) we both went through all the choices separately since we wanted to understand the nuances of the races, and in case there was an independent candidate in a race that we wanted to vote for.
The turnout seemed good. There were relatively few times when no voters were there. Most of the time they trickled in without creating a big line. During the slow times I stood up, stretched, got snacks, and got to know my partner Judge. A lot of the conversation was non-partisan talk about gardening!
From gardening we moved on to what to do with vegetables. It turned out that some of what he grows goes into products made by a local company he works for. They make fermented products, kimchi, kraut, kombucha, tonics, and syrups. Some of these products, he said, helped to boost your immune system, make you healthier, and protect you from viruses. This led to a very interesting conversation about the germ theory versus the terrain theory of health, and about the value of vaccines. We differed on some points, but it was very civil conversation and I think we could both empathize with the other's position.
At lunchtime every Tuesday the Baptist church does a "feeding" (a free meal) for anyone who comes around--usually people in need. But they extended an invitation to us to participate. Mary Beth reported that it was a delicious spaghetti meal! I had brought so much food that I didn't avail myself of the feeding. I also didn't want to eat too much and get sleepy.
Just after noon, and at several times in the afternoon, there were surges of voters, creating some wait times. Once in the kiosk, it took most voters several minutes to cast their ballot. There was supposed to be a four-minute limit on filling out the ballot, but we were all so busy that were wasn't really anyone enforcing this.
The biggest factor slowing the process was that there was only one kiosk with only the four privacy-screened desks to cast ballots. The clerks and judges processed most people speedily, but a line waiting for a spot in the kiosk curled around us sometimes in the relatively small room. We both believed there would have been room for another kiosk. In fact, one of the experienced poll workers said that there had been a second kiosk in the past. A couple of voters, apparently not bothered by lack of privacy, filled out their ballot while waiting in line.
We learned later that we were at one of the smallest polling places. Some of the others had more poll workers, space, equipment, and voting kiosks.
After a very busy period between about 5pm and 5:45pm, the number of voters waned. A few came at the last minute and, since we were well-practiced by then, we got them through the process efficiently.
After twelve hours and a little over 400 voters, we closed the poll. My voice was scratchy and tired from explaining the ballot almost 400 times. Mary Beth and I were pleased to encounter several young first-time voters. We wished we could give them something special, besides just the sticker that said "I voted."
Closing the Poll
After the Inspector went outside to
yell the poll closed, we got to work printing out information and shutting down the machines. Like the set up process, this was a bit chaotic. But the important thing was that we shut the scanner, opened the locked box below it, and removed the bag with the paper ballots. The bag was sealed and, to make sure the ballots were transfered in a bipartisan way, I rode back to the county building with the Inspector to deliver them to the County Clerk.
Then Mary Beth and I drove home to feed our dogs! With set up and closing, we had been there over 14 hours. The dogs weren't alone all day--a dog sitter visted them mid day! But we decided that if we do it again, Mary Beth will do an early voting poll and I'll do election day, so that we aren't both away from the dogs all day.
Although there were some setbacks, we felt that the core functions were accomplished. We had allowed qualified voters to vote and had issued a few provisional ballots voters were for whom there was no registration information. Experienced poll workers said that more people came through than in past years.
I am now suffering from a cold I caught from one or more of the 400 voters! But it seems to be mild and I imagine I'll feel better in a couple of days. It was definitely worth while to participate in the election. The process became less hypothetical and we got to see how the sausage is made. Ultimately, it reinforced our understanding of how good our election system is and about the fairness of the process.
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