Every other year, and sometimes in between, citizens all across the United States have the opportunity to participate in a uniquely democratic process that has been copied to varying degrees of success across the world. These elections – primary, runoff and general – give citizens of all shapes, sizes and colors a voice in selecting those who will run all levels of government – local, state, and federal. What’s more, thousands more have the opportunity to undergo training and provide the service necessary to run the polling places giving American citizens the opportunity to make their voice heard. I had the privilege of joining their ranks again back at the end of June for the South Carolina primary run off.

Dad was the first in my family to start working as a poll manager. Neither of us can remember whether the first election he worked happened in 2004 or 2006. Regardless, as soon as I heard him describe his experience, I knew I wanted to do that too. Thanks to a more amenable schedule, Laura started before I did but, finally, in the general election of 2008, I finally was able to participate in working my first election. I worked every primary, presidential primary, runoff and general election all the way through the completion of the 2012 election cycle. I did not intend to ever stop but a different job with less flexibility regarding time off came along in 2013 and I, even though I had worked my way up to clerk (the person in charge of a precinct) had to step back. When the 2016 election cycled around, i wondered if I would hear anything from the Greenville Election office but I never did. I wished I had because, as a teacher once again, we happen to have the day off while our schools serve as polling places. Thankfully, the omission of contact turned out to be a digital sort of clerical error. Dad spoke with someone at the elections office, resubmitted my contact information and I received a work request for the primary election this past June. Thanks to a previously scheduled vacation, I could not work the primary but I could work the run off which we were guaranteed to have due to over a dozen candidates vying for the Republican nomination for U.S. District 4. I sat through the three-hour training class before showing up on June 26th at a precinct which I have never before worked. At times leading up to that day I wondered why I had gotten myself back into this but as the day began and progressed, I had no doubts. I will be back.

Throughout that day, and every election day I have worked, I have been able to make a few observations about the election process which I lay out here. First, it comes as no surprise that a minuscule proportion of eligible, registered voters come in to cast their votes. Since I first worked an election, our voter list where we record the line on which the voter signed the voter’s oath and place our initials verifying that we have qualified this voter to vote, has gone from completely paper to completely electronic although we have a paper list as back up. One benefit the electronic voter list provides is the ability to see at a glance both how many voters have cast ballots and what percentage that number comprises of total registered voters in that particular precinct. As the day progressed, I got a little thrill each time a voter entered and our vote count and percentage increased. In fact, at this particular run off, all of us working found ourselves pleasantly surprised by the turnout, a turnout which nearly matched that of the primary, 20%. Every time, however, I caught myself saying something positive about the turnout, I always hedged my statement with something to effect of wishing turnout was much higher.

Many people talk frequently about voter turnout. Most bemoan how far it has fallen; some complain about the perceived rigging or how individual votes simply do not matter. For me, it is a matter of immense privilege and responsibility. The constitution of this country gives each of us the right and responsibility of wisely selecting others in whose hands to place the reigns of government. many groups have struggled long and hard for that right. Had I been born a hundred years prior, I would not have earned that right until I turned 35 and as a child would not have ever imagined that I would be among the ones privileged enough to join the ranks of voters. Unfortunately, for many reasons, most Americans of voting age do not perceive voting as I and others do. Many, through no fault of their own, do not even know anything but the vaguest notion of those struggles for suffrage. Others, overwhelmed by life, have no time to study candidates, learn their positions and make it to the polling place on election day.

Second, even among the small percentage of voters that do make it out to the polling place, the claim of a rigged system pervades. While only one or two people mentioned something to that effect on this particular recent runoff, someone has commented or sometimes made a stink, about a rigged system at every single election I have worked. These claims seep onto social media and once there spread uncontrolled. Two years ago, I entered the fray (the merits of such a decision can be debated later) when someone I know made a comment that implied poll worker complicity in shady election dealing. I have no recollection of the exact aspersion, only that the logical conclusion to this person’s statement was that poll workers participated in rigging the system. Even though four years – at that time – had passed since the last time I personally worked an election, I knew things from first hand behind the scenes experience that this person did not know. When I stepped in and called the person on their bogus claim, they became defensive and entrenched in their belief. First hand experience goes only so far, unfortunately.

Third, primaries and primary runoffs shine a spotlight on just how deeply many people identify with a party, with a name. Since I discussed this previously, I will simply describe how this manifests on election day. In South Carolina’s version of an open primary, voters may choose one of two primaries in which to vote, Republican or Democrat. Once the voter makes that choice, their ballot contains only the office seekers of that political party. If a runoff ensues, voters may vote in the same party’s runoff as they did in the primary. Only if a voter did not vote in the primary are they able to choose. In our training classes, they stressed the importance of neutral verbiage when asking the voters about their choice. Even still, many voters were surprised at the prospect of a choice. Some even vocalize this surprise, as if the Republican primary were the only one contested.

Although most of my observations point problems and could seem highly negative and dismal, my takeaway is positive. There may be problems but I still see hope and still intend to continue working the elections and promotive civic engagement as long as I possibly can.