Polling Prison?!?

So I signed up to be a poll worker on election day. I do love election day! I have been known to stay up to the wee hours of the morning watching election day coverage and it is especially exciting to me during a Presidential Election year. Also, I have my youngest child in kindergarten and I thought since I have more time, this was something I could do. I called the county clerks office to sign up to be a poll worker. She told me that I would need to attend a 3 hour training session...fine....and there would be various shifts available to sign up for on that day. I thought piece of cake...I'll sign up for an afternoon shift, drop my kindergartener off to school and go do my poll worker thing. I knew that I might be signed up for a shift that lasted until the polls closed, but I was thinking I could do this. I can do my part to be a good citizen.

I then received a letter in the mail letting me know how to sign up for my training session. However, a line in the letter stood out to me because it didn't jive with what I had previously understood. It stated that all poll workers will need to arrive at their polling locations at 6am and should expect to be there until approximately 9:30 pm. It said, in bold letters...you will not be able to leave the polling location until the polls have closed and all the votes have been registered. We are to bring all three meals for the day with us or arrange for somebody to bring them to us. I was a bit confused by this new piece of information since I thought I got to "pick" a shift.

I went to the 3 hour training today, which by the way, was pretty interesting. I found out the letter was indeed correct. I will be working from 6am until about 9:30pm. Also, they said that we really shouldn't plan on somebody bringing us a full meal because we really won't have time to eat a full meal all at once. They strongly recommend bringing a bunch of "grazing" foods such as crackers, cheese cubes etc. that we can just pop in when we get a minute. I now have a whole new appreciation for those poll workers I always see when I go to vote. Now when you go to vote at your polling location you can also appreciate those workers who are putting in long hours and think of me...popping cheese cubes in my mouth when I get the chance.