Soapbox

Ohio Voted. Or Not.

What if you held an election and nobody came?

Anyone who knows me knows that voting is basically my jam. Friends and family call me with questions like “Hey do I have to register here at school?” or “What if I want to change my party for this primary?” I want everyone to vote. Even the idiots who vote for things like Walls and ‘putting God back in our schools’.
So when I tell you that I was afraid to do my part running the primary this year, you know it was a big deal.

I went out 2 weeks before and bought 4 big tubs of sanitizing wipes (back when you could still find them in stores). I also got ingredients for hand sanitizer and made up a big batch (it was already too late to find that in stores). I had plans to pu only 1/2 as many ballot markers per table as we usually did, to keep people farther away from each other. The Board of Elections sent out emails assuring us that they were going to provide sanitary supplies to each polling station and they would let us set up our polls the evening before. That would allow us to really wipe the place down and start off as clean as possible. I had an anxious stomach all the day before but I packed my bags, double-checked my supplies and was ready to go do set-up at 6 PM Monday night.

Ted stuck his head in the room where I was sewing masks that afternoon and said that the governor had just said he was going to postpone the primary because he wasn’t convinced that the polls could be kept clean and social distancing maintained.

I was relieved. I really hadn’t been convinced that going ahead with the primary was a good idea, but felt it was my job. First I got a text cancelling early set-up. My courrier delivery of the thumb drive to update my list of who has voted early in my precinct never arrived. That told me the election was indeed off. I kept checking my email and finally got a message: the Governor has officially stopped in-person voting until June, but mail-in ballots can still be requested and sent in. Whew.
I unpacked my election bags, showered and put on my PJ’s and finally admitted to myself how worried I had been about going ahead with the election.

But people on Facebook started saying “No, the Governor tried but a judge ruled that we have to have the election tomorrow”.
No. Surely that’s wrong! Rumor! Specu-
Then an email from the Board: a judge over-ruled the governor. He can’t just postpone an election. Report to your polls at 5:30 AM tomorrow.

No. Are they nuts? We don’t have our data updates! We now have to set up AND SANITIZE the whole area in just an hour! Half my normal election crew is over 65 and two of them had heart issues last year! They have no business being out in public during an epidemic!
I felt a headache start as I reluctantly started re-packing my election supplies.
“Ted, I’m scared” I admitted. “I don’t feel safe”.
“Just don’t go” he said.
“I’m the Location Manager! I have the keys! If I don’t show up, nobody votes in precinct 1129. I have to go. I guess I just hope nobody in the precinct comes out to vote… which feels wrong. But the whole world is wrong right now.”

Finally around 11 PM it was resolved. The director of Public Health declared a health emergency and that gave DeWine the authority needed to postpone the primary. “Stand Down” messages were sent out to poll workers.
I still didn’t sleep well. I stood looking out the window the next morning and thought What about voters who didn’t have their TV’s on and don’t know it’s all been cancelled? What will they think when they show up at the church and the doors are locked and the lights are off?

It seemed to me I had a responsibility to ‘my’ voters, who depend on me to get their votes on record. I typed up a quick notice on my computer explaining what had happened and urging them to request an absentee ballot and vote now instead of waiting for June (because who knows what the world will be like then?) I drove to the church where I taped it to the front door and felt a little better as I drove away. Because voting is still my jam, folks.