On Aug. 9, 2022, the Lowndes County Elections Office sent out an appeal asking for volunteers to help work at the polls on Election Day.

I waited until after my eye surgery to volunteer so I didn’t receive training until Nov. 6, the Sunday before the election. I was assigned to Precinct 6, Trinity Presbyterian Church.

Training consisted of a series of videos on the Secretary of State’s website and one in-person session at the elections office. I was really nervous about working the polls because it had been years since I had last done that. Things have changed since then. Really changed.

Because I was the oldest (79), they made me the greeter, a post I have a newfound respect for. I did not really stand up all 14 hours but it sure felt like it. This is a physically demanding job. My legs still ache. It is time for me to admit that I am not 60 anymore.

The highlight for me came when a young lady came up to me and said she was a former student.

She said she registered to vote when I gave extra credit in my American government class for registering. She said she had voted in every election since then. I was thrilled. I am still thrilled.

The biggest, most obvious change was the use of picture IDs and computers. I know that the left is concerned that picture IDs are not readily available to all but adjustments can be and are made. I know that the right is concerned that government picture IDs are the beginning of Big Brother’s domination.

However, speaking as someone who used to complete this process by hand, the combination of picture IDs and computers is the greatest discovery since peanut butter and jelly.

This process is fast. The average wait time was one minute, tops, at my precinct. Lines disappeared quickly and information was processed at fast and furious speeds. The longest part of the whole proceeding was the time it took the voter to decide whom to vote for. I was impressed.

Granted the turnout was a trickle instead of the expected flood but it was steady. People had obviously taken advantage of early voting and mail-in voting. We processed approximately 50 people per hour who actually voted. That’s about half the number of people who came to the precinct, however.

For every voter processed, one was turned away for being at the wrong precinct. Fifty percent of the people who showed up to vote were redirected to another precinct. If there is a flaw in the system, it’s this.

The usual explanation for this mistake is that the voter moved and forgot to change his/her address with the elections office or that he/she simply misread the notice that was sent out.

Those explanations don’t work when the numbers are that high. When half the people who show up to vote are told they are in the wrong precinct, there has been some serious redistricting going on. I don’t want to yell gerrymandering unjustly, but I left that polling place that night wondering what the precinct maps actually looked like.

The high percentage of people who were at the wrong precinct prompted conversations among the poll workers about how to make the system easier. Suggestions ranged from a drive-through box to check IDs to switching to mail-in and early voting entirely to voting by phone.

As one worker pointed out, making it easier to vote is, in fact, easy, but the point is often not to make it easier to vote. Sometimes the point is protecting the status quo.

Another thing that impressed me was the amount of security. As far as I know, no one at my precinct received death threats. There were no men with guns menacing our polling place. The process went smoothly.

The machines arrived Monday afternoon along with a guard. This man slept at the polling place to protect the machines from tampering until they could be used to vote on Tuesday. He stayed with the machines until they were delivered back to the Elections Office Tuesday night.

In addition, two poll workers, one Democrat and one Republican, plus a county commissioner checked in to ensure all was going well.

Even without looming threats to safety, poll working is an exhausting, draining job. It demands your constant attention and those who worked at Precinct 6 did it with flair.

They were friendly, efficient and effective. I’m sorry that the current state of craziness in this country prevents me from singling them out by name for the praise they so richly deserve.

Congratulations, Precinct 6 poll workers, for a job well done!

Dr. Jane Elza, Ph.D., retired, is a resident of Valdosta.