Yes it's almost that time of the year again. 2 more sleeps until the NSW State Election or is it Election(s) - no there will only be one election and to think we just had a Federal By - Election (Wentworth - Gee thanks Mr Turnbull!) last November and there is another Federal Election to be called in May 2019 sometime.
I am going to be so tired by the end of this weekend. I think I will retire from working as a DVIO at the State Elections after this one and just work at the Federal Elections as it is a very long day and not worth the time and pay including putting aside time to complete the online training/assessment. Work starts as early as 7 am and does not conclude until after 10 pm when counting is complete on Saturday 23rd March 2019 depending on the size of the polling place you are allocated to work at.
It means an overnight stay somewhere in the city close to public transport for me ( with the exception of this year as I am already staying in the city) and a 5 am wake up and prep before travelling out to my allocated polling place for the day.
Remember voting is compulsory in Australia hence I did a postal vote. Pre voting is another option and there was a lot of that going on around NSW this election!
Saturday 23rd March 2019 - Finally the actual polling day voting day whatever you want to call it is here - I was there from 7am to 10 pm working as a DVIO. There were 6 DVIOs but only 4 tables allocated to DVIOs at this voting centre ( I sat next to a guy who had been a DVIO for as many State elections as I had, who sat next to an elderly lady who never stopped talking and thought she knew how to do her job better then anyone else because she had worked at the elections for so long - more about her later) and at least 8 EOs as well as the polling center manager ( who has been a polling place manager at least 10 times) and the 2IC ( who has never been a 2 IC before) at St George Church Hall on Glenmore Rd Paddington near the 5 ways intersection.
Never trust directions on the internet - a quick bus trip to Paddington Town Hall and a 6 minute walk to Glenmore Rd was actually a 15 minute walk when I asked a local where St George Church was on Glenmore Rd!
It was so busy all day we hardly had time to take proper breaks! I did manage to make a donation towards 2 sausage onion and bacon sandwiches during one of my breaks - later called "Democracy Sausages - sold out!" as per chalk written message by the organiser. They were so good that I ate them straight off the bbq - they were still so hot they burnt the roof of my mouth when I took a bite of them in between some bread and yes they did sell out! I have never been to a sausage sizzle that is by donation before - funds raised went towards women and domestic violence I believe. My work collegue made a donation and had one as well - she felt bad just taking a free sausage sandwich. Some people were quite generous giving upto a $10 donation. By the way I just managed to get one of the last few sausage sandwiches but there was plenty of bacon and onion left - bread was running low too but the organiser managed to find another loaf.
photo taken after finishing at the polling place of the chalk board sign. Sorry it is a little difficult to read as it had rained that night and quite dark. "Democracy Sausages Sold Out Five Ways Honey Sold Out"
"The Good/The Bad & The Ugly" - Every election whether they are Local, State or Federal has them
Obviously good were the Democracy Sausages yummy - but what exactly is democracy these days?
I only had one rude voter this election but I heard there were others - one who even lodged a complaint. This is not bad considering I attended to and processed hundreds of declaration voters on polling day mostly those with enrolment/ name not on roll or absent votes
We finished by 10 pm this election - not too bad as we had probably 3000 people vote here today in and out of district as well as anomalies such as names not on role etc. No voters who had not actually voted but had been marked off the roll as already voted.
We didn't run out of "small" ballot papers for any district this year but we did run out of absent vote envelopes and were forced to use enrolment/name not on roll envelopes until the polling manager could get a second batch delivered. ( when they arrived we initially received the incorrect ones but this was rectified quickly with the correct ones).
We ran out of the "big" ballot papers but were issued with a second batch - thanks to to my co worker seated next to me who kept boasting about how he was the fastest dec issuing officer- yes Speedy Gonzales but was he accurately issuing his voting papers? This is an election quality not just quantity is required.
Unlike the recent Wentworth Federal By Election near the end of 2018, all DVIOs were issued with a tablet containing the electorial roll - yes an electronic device with a database ( it might not be an ipad and it may have been about 10 years old but it worked fine although a little slow) and this really put voters at ease unlike the Federal By Elections where DVIO's copped heaps of abuse from angry voters whose names did not appear on the ordinary electorial roll and we had no way of verifying this. There were 6 tablets and behind us at least 3 very accessible power points therefore we were able to rotate the 2 spare tablets to recharge when power ran low on our 4 tablets used. Excellent electronic device management!
During our initial counting processing after 6 pm when the polling place shut, we unfolded all the large ballot papers and found no one had drew dicks or other rude bits on any of them however we found 2 ballot papers one of which was a small ballot paper with the typical "F*** Off" message scribbled over them.
The guy seated next to me and I were a little concerned about the layout of the hall this State Election. I am unsure how the layout was in the hall at previous elections but the layout of the hall this election did cause some obvious WH&S issues as well as public liability issues to both staff and the public ie the voters.
Firstly when I walked in and took my seat at the Declaration Voting Area there was really bad lighting which was later rectified however the large tube lighting was so bright it let off a lot of heat. Voters who came up to us and were only there for a very short period of time constantly complained how hot it was up there. We had a fan but could not use it as it blew all the paperwork away. We just put up with the heat from 7 am to 6 pm.
There was a major concern with the steps leading upto the Declaration Voting Area - this was a tripping hazard especially for babies and the elderly as well as a hindrance to less able bodied voters. On at least 3 occasions I witness voters push back their chairs they were seated at in the Declaration Voting Area only to have it tip backwards down the steps behind them. Luckily no one was injured as they had stood up away from their chairs before they tumbled backwards down the steps.
Next election maybe the voting booths should be located at the top of the steps maybe with a makeshift ramp and handrails and have the Declaration Voting Tables opposite the Ordinary Voting Tables. This would relieve the above OH&S and public liability problems otherwise have 2 rows of voting booths one line facing the Ordinary Voting Tables and another row facing the Declaration Voting Tables down the centre of the hall dividing the hall into 2 distinct sections. There will need to be as gap at each end of the voting booths to allow people to place their ballot papers in the appropriate ballot boxes before exiting. Declaration Ballot Boxes must be kept behind the Declaration Voting Area so people voting ordinary votes don't try to place them into these ballot boxes which they do - Can't people read?!
We were only given 2 large long clear plastic bags to pack our entire bundles of counted and sorted declaration voting envelopes into and guess what? the elderly lady could not do it but I figured out a way to do it with the help of two of my work collegues Speedy Gonzales and a lady who would not stop keeping her political opinions to herself ( she was warned already during the counting process by the polling manager that we are suppose to remain politically neutral as per employment documentation signed and returned upon accepting our offers of employment).
Due to the large amount of ordinary and declaration voters there were always queues of voters waiting for a vacant booth to cast their vote at. There was no dedicated booth set up for declaration voters therefore they had to join one of the queues of ordinary voters to cast their votes which was frustrating as they had just spent their time queing up to cast a declaration vote. To speed their voting time up a special dedicated voting booth was eventually set up for declaration voters which was right next to my station which was great as I could send my declaration voters straight there as soon as it was vacant.
Missing stationery and forms @ Declaration Voting Tables - eg garbage bins and a tally sheet etc ... Someone kept taking my work collegues pens so he kept stealing mine which I later had to hide from him whenever I was on break. Forget guarding the spare ballot papers these were safer then the stationery!
I encourage everyone to work at an election at least once during their lifetime - the pay sucks but the experience is interesting!
Onto some more light hearted stuff
The 2IC was named Wallace but the Polling Place Manager's name was not Gromet.
There are 2 separate ballot boxes one to place the "big" ballot paper in and one to place the "small" ballot paper in - both very clearly labelled for ordinary votes. For declaration votes there are also 2 special ballot paper boxes and these are only for declaration votes where both ballot papers are placed in 1 sealed envelope and placed into either one of these special declaration ballot boxes. When I arrive there were two special ballot boxes placed behind us however in hand writing one was labelled "big" ballot papers and the other "small" ballot papers. I raised the question to the polling manager - I am confused 1 sealed envelope containing both ballot papers 2 different ballot paper boxes? Apology from the polling manager and his 2IC who commented "You can see we were up late last night setting up". One special declaration ballot box was moved to behind the other end of the declaration voting tables ( after I removed the signage mistakes).
When searching for people's names on the electorial roll you often have to ask the voter how they spell their name particularly their surname followed by their first name. Sometimes they are a little unusual. One voter spells out his surname "HASTIE" I repeat it by saying "As in PASTIE" the guy sitting next to me thought I was being rude but I explained to the voter that I wasn't and apologised if he thought I was and he told me that he gets that all the time!
So the DVIO sitting next to me ( ie Speedy Gonzales) and I both had a bit of a difference in opinion as to how to process Discarded Declaration ballot papers issued to voters then the elderly lady ( as previously mention sitting beside him that would not stop talking) - she even challenged the Polling Manager during a discussion how they should be dealt with. During this time my work collegue asked me if he could swap seats with me - I said no of course. I was already catching the 389 bus part way with her after we finished work. My work collegue says to me "You realise that she is going to sit next to you on the bus? " of course I did, luckily it was a very short ride before she alighted the bus and I was joined by a younger work collegue who the elderly lady took under her wing and gave her directions of the quickest way for her to get home - let's hope my young work collegue got home safely and Didn't end up lost with the directions given to her!
Towards the end of the night the Polling Manager discovers he had made a mistake throughout the night. Instead of retaining all the stubs to the "small" pads of ballot papers, he threw them all out in the bins inside the hall ( luckily! ). So my work collegue (the lady who would not keep her political opinions to herself) & I and a few others who volunteered, emptied the main rubbish bin asnd rummaged through it and managed to find about 12 out of around 25 ballot paper stubs. My work collegue ( the lady who could not keep her political opinions to herself) declares " There is only so much democracy I can give" - ie she was willing to go through one bin and rummage for the discarded ballot paper stubs but was not willing to go through the other smaller and more grotty rubbish bin full of discarded food and drink!
There were a few voters that were a little hung over from the previous night and one in particular was a bit of fun to humour I said to him " Been to the Ivy have we?" He kept apologising for being so vague but he followed my instructions and didn't discard his ballot papers in the ordinary voting boxes returning to me as instructed.
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