What I learned last night

So, last night I went to the training session to be an election judge in Champaign County.

1. Being an election judge makes for a very long day. We report to the polls at 5 am, and can't leave the polling place until 8 or 9 pm, depending on how smoothly things go.

2. Most counties in Illinois use optical scan ballots (like the Scantron forms you may have used in school). It provides easy tabulation with a proven technology, but also produces a paper trail for verifiable recounts. Everyone doesn't use them, however, and it's all about money.

3. I'll make $90 for the 15-16 hours of work, or roughly $5.63-$6/hr. Whoo hoo!

4. The referendum on the ballot that asks our representative to support the impeachment of one Liar in Chief and his assistant, Darth, is only in the city of Champaign. Oddly enough, the Republicans at the session thought such a concept was laughable. I did not explain to them that the President's interpretation of the Constitution was what would be laughable, if it wasn't so tragic.

5. It sounds like, locally, there is almost no interest in the election, which shocked me. Here at the Thinker, we're endorsing David Gill to beat Tim Johnson in the Illinois 15th. Johnson is another rubber-stamp Republican, and he can go far, far away.

6. If you want to work as a judge, at least locally, they're way short. Might be worth checking with your local county clerk to see if they need help. One way we can fight voter fraud is to be there at the polls with the voters.