Thank you for registering to work the election. The more people who do this, the less chaotic election day will be.

Participating is not only a civic duty and responsibility, it lets you view democracy in action, with all of its warts.

Now I'll tell you a story.

1/ https://twitter.com/MadeleineCorri3/status/1289220560078229506

Preface: Democracy, by its very nature, never runs smoothly, even without a chaos agent in the White House.

One of Putin's criticisms of democracy is that it's "messy."

Dictatorship and autocracy, by contrast, are streamlined and not messy.

2/

So you have to get used to messy. Government by the people also means that mere mortals are in charge. They screw up.

I have no political agenda in telling you this story. It's just a story.

When I was in law school fascinated by election law, I went to hear a lecture.

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It was part of a series in which lawyers practicing in various professions came to tell us what their profession was like.

I went to the "elections lawyer" lecture.

He told this story. (This was a few decades ago, so this is as accurately as I remember the story.)

4/

It was a local election in California. Very local election for a local office.

The worker in charge of the polling place was somehow left alone after the polling place closed. She packed up the ballots and brought them to her car.

She forgot to close the top of the box.

5/

It was raining. The ballots got wet.

She thought about what to do.
She got an idea

(The emoticons are my embellishment. They were not part of the lecture )

6/

She went back inside and tried to dry out the ballots by putting them into the microwave.

She ruined them all.

What's that saying about not attributing to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity?

7/

The lawyers representing both parties and each candidate got together to decide how to handle it. (I don't remember the solution, but they came up with something. As a practical matter, one thing to do is determine whether that number of ballots would change the outcome.)

8/

Yes, ballots are thrown out for stupid reasons.

The reason lawyers work elections, and people like you should apply to be elections judges is so that these decisions are closely monitored.

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The lecturer told us that the point of his story was this: People tend to have the idea that elections run like clockwork. They never do.

I was in the "boiler room" in Georgia during the recent fiasco there. ("Boiler room' = a group of lawyers handing problems.)

10/

I expect this election to be more chaotic than usual.

But then, it might not be. States and voter rights groups are preparing.

GA, to take one example, now has dropoff places for absentee ballots. The populated areas are working to accommodate people going to polls.

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If you are not able to work the election (and lots of people simply can't) try to recruit people who can.

Are there any college students in your family? Inspire them to get involved! Talk about their future and their need to own the democracy!

12/

At the very least, get your hands on your absentee ballot as soon as you possibly can (if this is an option in your state) and then think about the best way to return it.

CA, for example, lets people drop off their absentee ballot at the polling place on election day.

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This option has advantages: You can do your research and make sure you make no mistakes on your ballot. Plus, in CA, your ballot gets counted with the same-day voters.

You don't put stress on already-stressed polling places.

Think through the best way for you to vote.

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Adding: my husband, who is in charge of a voting precinct in California, assures me that democracy often DOES run smoothly, namely in HIS precinct.