Trust

I have been serving as a poll worker in Moore County, NC for the past two weeks.

For a gal who has been mostly a bum since 1992, getting up at 5:15, starting work at 7:30 and going non-stop until 2:00… I don’t mind saying, I am tired when I get home.

That said, it has been a interesting experience watching the people of my county come and go. My guess is that I have spoken to at least 3,000 of them. I have assisted more than a few because they were physically impaired and even some who were illiterate. All had made clear choices for their candidates.

I spoke to so many young people voting for the first time. The ones that practically skipped to the registration table were so much fun.

I spoke to senior citizens who had either never voted before in their lives or had not voted for over 40 years. There is no way for me to tell which candidate provided the motivation. I’m lifted by the improved participation.

I wish I had a magic microphone that reached into the minds of every single American citizen…. for these fourteen days I have personally witnessed the polar opposite of voter fraud.

The lengths that the State of North Carolina’s voting laws go to ensure each person the right to complete a ballot and then audit the ones that come with “unusual explanations” confirm that everything that could possibly be done, is done.

And the suspicious… they are easy to spot. The visual markers come in two forms. They arrive draped in Trump clothing or they arrive without a mask and refuse one that is offered; usually with just a hint of “no, you sheep.”

The only people to grumble about the current NC law that says photo id is not required, were clearly in the camp described above.

The thought that popped into my head on Thursday was, “I’ll bet that the same people who think people who will cheat at voting are the same people who lament the days when we couldn’t leave our front doors unlocked.”

I’m going to go so far to say that the most untrusting people in the world and probably untrustworthy.

I heard a broadcast about trust many years ago. It was about the group of people who declare, “I don’t trust anybody.” The speaker then itemized all of the things we do as humans every day that include absolute trust.

The most obvious… we drive down two-lane roads at speeds exceeding 55 mph everyday. We trust that the oncoming traffic will stay in its lane.

We trust that the disgruntled fast-food preparing isn’t putting arsenic in our cheeseburger.

The levels of distrust have been rising in recent years. The reason is so very clear to me. Day after day, there are messages coming through our communication devices, echoed by people we know, repeated as jokes, repeated as gossip…. I hear it all the time…..

All politician are crooks. Fake News. There is fraud everywhere. The man is out to get you.

My two weeks in the company of the people in charge of collecting votes and the people casting their votes, I can say with confidence that the system (at least in my corner of the country) is fine.

When the polls closed on Nov 3, you will hear news reports of the “unofficial results” and some may declare a winner because the news people choose to believe that since the numbers are so wide-spread that it is is obvious to them that a candidate has won.

However, the results are not official until over a week later when the final audit is done by the board of elections.

To anyone who reads this is still thinking… well, maybe, but I still think there is a lot of voter fraud…. put it to your own test. Next election cycle, take a day or even two weeks out of your life and become a poll worker.

I trust that you will come away feeling much better about how democracy works.

In closing…. there is one presidential candidate who bellows fraud, fake, cheat every time he gets a chance. His well documented personal history is filled with fraud, fake, and cheat. And that is not fake news, believe me.