Voter Protection: Mental Image

I am doing voter protection on November 2nd for the DNC. It's well known that there are a number of non-partisan groups that are also going to be sending out poll observers.

So I have this mental image of sitting in the polling place around a table with four other observers, while the poll workers, who probably have never even had *a* poll observer in the past, look on in befuddled apprehension.

"We're just here to make sure that everyone gets to vote," we chorus (except the Republican, who in my mind is either a grouchy old man or a young attractive blond woman). The Republican scowls, and mutters something about "ballot-box stuffing" or "questionable citizenship."

"Why the hell are we here, then?" the poll-workers must think to themselves.

No! We poll observers can't be bothered with the minutiae of running a polling place, but must instead focus on the minutiae of whether the people running the polling place are doing it right.

If you don't know the difference, then you probably think we should all just sign up to work at the polls instead.

As I often do.