Calling All Election Deniers

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​CALLING ALL ELECTION DENIERS

Think the election was stolen? Think your candidate lost because the election was rigged? Think there's partisan shenanigans that go on at the polls on election day that cheated your guy out of his rightful win?
If you are of the above persuasion, then I extend to you this invitation: When the next election rolls around, volunteer to work the polls.
Attend the three-to-four hour training session to find out exactly what it is that poll workers, aka election officials, do - and what they couldn't possibly do even if they wanted to - on election day.
Let your eyes be opened to the layers of security checks that are built into our elections and which you as an election official will be carrying out alongside your fellow election officials under the watchful eyes of location managers and deputy location managers.
Learn about the list of any and all possible mistakes, missteps, corrections, or changes imaginable - or even unimaginable - that might need to be dealt with when a voter is signing in, is at the voting machine or ballot counting machine, or is casting a paper or provisional ballot. Learn also how every possible issue on every aspect of the voting process that might arise on election day is handled and adjudicated and recorded by a bipartisan team of election officials and managers.
Study the election officials' training manual, with anywhere from thirty to fifty pages of instructions depending on the job one will be doing at the polls on election day.

         Be part of the team - as I was - of machine judges who, the night before the election, are sworn in along with the roster judges and paper ballot judges, to faithfully and honestly discharge our duties as election officials. Then be one of the cadre of workers who snip off with a pair of wire cutters the blue security lock tie seals from each ballot marking and ballot counting machine, deposit the seals in a dedicated bag, then record in the official location workbook the number on each seal and each machine. ​

       On election day, work side-by-side with your fellow citizens for your fellow citizens, doing your part to make sure that everyone who enters your polling site is able to freely and confidently exercise their right to vote. See for yourself how the ballot-counting machines scan and count each vote, and how throughout the day tallies are taken of the number of voters to be reconciled with the number of votes cast.
        And at the end of the day likewise watch for yourself how carefully the machine votes are tallied, how every single paper ballot is accounted for and sealed in a secure box to be delivered to the board of elections. See how every name in the voter signature poll books is counted and re-counted before the books are closed, sealed with a tamper-proof seal and turned in to the location manager before the election workers can go home.
​        Just this morning I was talking to my son Tommy, a veteran machine judge - and computer systems analyst - on the subject of this post. 

        What he had to say on the subject was so to the point that I decided to include his input, as well:
        "Until you've worked the polls you can have no concept of what it would actually take to steal an election. You can't just pull a lever. Everything is logged, everything is transparent, there are so many people involved every step of the way. Someone once snipped the wrong security tie seal at the wrong time and we had to immediately report it in the error log, write down the numbers of the damaged tie and the replacement tie, have the whole incident documented and signed. That's how it works."
           And so I reiterate this challenge to every election denier, every "stop the steal"-er, every non-truster of the election day process: Sign up to be a poll-working election official. Be a part of the meticulous, and meticulously secure election day process in this country. See for yourself how it works. You’ll be amazed. And, hopefully, enlightened.