I've worked 8 days now out of my 17 early voting day schedule as an election judge in Harris county.

Most of those days I worked 6 am to 7:30 pm, with a half hour for lunch.

It's long days and paperwork and staff management and voter assistance.

And sometimes a joy.

The neatest thing is the number of stories I get to witness, the small slices of life I get to observe.

For instance, each time the team discovers a first-time voter, they announce it to the whole room, and everyone cheers and claps.

I often tear up at that.

Every location in Harris is required to have staff fluent in Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese, so I've spent a lot of time getting to know our language specialist clerks.

They have been busy all week.

One clerk who helps with Chinese-speaking voters is like Superman on curbside voting. He's amazing.

When the buzzer goes off, he flies into action. When I go with him to observe, I get to witness his confidence and experience, his efficiency and cheerfulness.

We chat about the forecast, and the Chinese media outlet interviewing people outside the center, or about all the candidate signs, and the neighborhood people walking their dogs past the center.

He is so polite, and I think proud that he can do this job, and do it well.

I learned that one of our Vietnamese clerks makes the most adorable masks. She's also an incurable giver, and very sensitive with voters who need her assistance. She mothers the staff a bit, and her smile is beautiful to see.

The voters are amazing too. Today I helped a gentleman who chiefly spoke Spanish. Using my broken crappy grasp of the language, I made sure he found the candidates he was looking for.

When they say they want Trump, or want 'all Republican', you can't unhear it.

He did.

I had an elderly couple whose first language was Chinese, come in teasing and mock-fussing at each other. He said he had wanted a mail ballot but changed his mind.

She said she told him that was a bad idea. They were hilarious.

From the way they asked about the option to vote straight ticket Republican being absent now, I gathered they were pretty likely Republican voters as well.

Yesterday an older Spanish-speaking gentleman told me he wanted help using the machine properly. For Trump. Only Trump.

He said it three times.