The Day I Served as an Election Poll Watcher
One of the Happiest Days of my Life This morning on my Facebook feed, I saw a call to action seeking poll workers and poll watchers for the election in Ohio. It reminded me of one of the happiest days of my life. On that day, I served as a Democratic Party poll watcher in St. Louis County, Missouri. Background On October 16, 2000, I woke to the NPR radio station in St. Louis announcing the death of then-Governor Mel Carnahan, a Democratic candidate for one of Missouri's U.S. Senate seats. Overnight, Mel, his son, Randy, and his campaign manager had died in a plane crash as he left a campaign event south of St. Louis. Standing in bare feet on the cold wood floor, I started crying, my shoulders slumped in complete defeat. My boyfriend offered little emotional support or understanding. I slammed the door as I left his house and never returned. Had he completely misunderstood (or worse, devalued) the countless hours I had devoted to getting Democrats elected in Missouri that el