Here Come Da Judge

I may be Threesources.com first elected official.

On election day, last November 8th, my wife wrote my name in for Judge of Elections. A position for which not a soul was running.

As luck would have it, I tied for the win with someone else. As mandated by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a drawing was held today where the winners had to pull numbers out of a hat. (Not really a hat, more of a box... it might have been some sort of a candy box).

The lowest number between one and ten wins.

And I drew a one!

So what does Judge of Elections do?

The Judge of Elections heads the election board for a given division and supervises the conduct of the polling place. He or she ensures that voters are registered within the division, prevents fraud and other errors, and accurately tabulates the votes at the end of election day. It is the responsibility of the Judge of Elections to to protect an honest election by making sure that only properly registered citizens are permitted to vote, that fraud and mistakes are prevented, and that a true and correct report of the returns is made to the county’s Board of Elections at the end of the day.

That's right. The very sanctity of American democracy lies in the palm of my hand. Bwa-hah-hah!

But seriously, if I could be the Judge of Elections for a precinct in Philadelphia, it'd be really neat. There are rumours of some amazing election chicanery. It'd be interesting to be a judge in the polling place that's a bar.

But where I live, there really isn't much (any?) electoral hanky-panky. It's pretty orderly, though the MoveOn.org crowd was kind of close to the fire-house polling place back in aught-four.

Equally amazing is that my wife also tied, (no, not for Judge of Elections), but for Inspector of Elections.

But Rachael didn't not draw the lowest number. (A ten actually).

HOWEVER, there are two Inspectors of Elections.

Two Inspectors are elected for each polling place. In the municipal election (1997, 2001, 2005, etc), the candidate receiving the highest number of votes becomes the "Majority" Inspector. The candidate receiving the second highest vote total assumes the position of "Minority" Inspector. The Inspectors form a bipartisan board under the Judge of Elections. On election day, typically one Inspector checks voters' registration documents while the other Inspector prepares the certificates authorizing voters to cast their ballots.

Since she drew the highest number of the two candidates, she's the minority Inspector. Though she's a Republican.... in a Republican township.

Go fig.

Amazingly, we weren't the only tied elections in the county this time. There were at least ten other races. Most seemed to be for these two positions, and I suspect they were all write-ins. There was a kid (obviously 18) there with his parents who were probably wondering what he got himself into.

In conclusion.
The write-in still works.

Every vote counts. Especially when there is only one.

Your wife will always vote for you, even if you don't. ;)

Politics Posted by AlexC at November 25, 2005 9:00 PM