Inner180

This evening’s Treat: a brag—the volunteer work I’ve been doing in connection with Tuesday’s election was as part of a team of over 5,800 Florida lawyers responding to the turmoil here during the 2000 presidential election.   During early voting and on Tuesday, we covered the entire state, with volunteer lawyers inside and outside of every potentially troublesome precinct.  Other lawyers staffed hotlines in every county to back up those of us in the field.  Another group was on standby in Tallahassee, the state capitol, if an emergency lawsuit was needed to keep things rolling.  The election came off without a hitch.

Here’s the extra cool part—after the polls closed, I stayed to observe the poll workers unload the voting machines. The precinct clerk and her assistant followed a precise written protocol, removing the paper ballots from a lockbox underneath the voting machines, sealing them in special cases, then printing the scanned results from each voting machine.  Every ballot and every voter sign-in was counted and had to match the number of votes counted by the voting machine on the printout.  The clerks patiently explained each step to me as they proceeded.

It was a real thrill to watch the computerized tape print out the results from each voting machine, and to see the vote counts for each race and referendum.  Three copies of the results were printed by each machine, and one of those copies was posted on the front door of the precinct for public inspection.  The results got posted like this in every precinct in the state. The other two copies of the printout were locked up and taken downtown to the Dade County Election Department, along with the paper ballots.

I’m really in love with democracy today.  And feeling like, in this teeny way, I was part of it.  Worth bragging about, don’t you think?