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Friday, January 5, 2018

November 2017 passed in a blur... 

Last November, Queensland had a state election and once again I had some paid work.  DH had been quietly working away for months before the election was called, organising an electoral district, but my work was concentrated into just over 2 weeks before Election Day and then just over a week later. In the 6 1/2 years since my retirement from teaching, this was the 5th time of my being an electoral assistant. And this time those 8.30-5pm days were a bit of a shock to the system 😉.
A shop was rented in a local shopping centre.

The premises have to be big enough to provide not only office space and a training venue, but also warehouse space for all the equipment which will go out to all those polling booths (21 this time!) on Election Day.
Furniture has to be hired...very basic obviously!

Pallets of equipment are sent out which have to be checked...

These days a lot of the equipment is electronic so lots of charging up is required plus formatting of devices...


This time I got to help more in preparing the boxes of equipment ready for the polling booths on Election Day...lots of checklists to make sure everything is there ready.
One task was cutting lengths of string...over 100 metre lengths. The pencils in the voting screens are tied to the cardboard screen by a length of string! I just cut the lengths of string, the booth supervisors had to tie the pencils to a piece of string.

Boxes of equipment ready for Supervisors to collect after their training session...

For the 2 weeks before Election Day, the office would become a prepoll centre where people could come to vote early...and that is the main job that I do.

The assistant who worked with me was a dab hand with a vacuum cleaner and duster...

And after that day it's back to clerical tasks and packing up...all ballot papers are check counted...that's thousand and thousands counted again. And then there are the postal votes which arrive...

Have you ever wondered what happens to those Absentee votes taken at polling booths on Election Day? They all come back to the office in those envelopes and are sorted into electorates. Then they are couriered back to the appropriate electorate to be opened and counted. That sorting and envelope labeling takes hours...
There were 92 courier envelopes to go out....

Lots of cardboard comes back to the office...

And this time, it all got taken to the Recycle Area at a local Resource Recovery Centre...which used to be fondly called the Ferny Grove Tip by us locals! 😉
I finished work on December 1 and November was just a vague memory! Lol

4 comments:

mamasmercantile said...

Wow, who kne there was so much going on behind the scenes.

Vireya said...

It is always fascinating to get a look at what happens behind the scenes. That's quite a few elections you've had - does it include local?

Peg - Happy In Quilting said...

Busy times ❤️

Carol- Beads and Birds said...

Political person that I am here in the USA, I thank you for helping to keep the democratic process going in your country.
xx, Carol