The Other Side of the Coin

The Other Side of the Coin was Originally Posted on August 12, 2006 by lavarock

I could also have named this blog “Turning the Tables”, because there are tables involved; but then there are the coins…

Sometimes in life you find that the tables have turned and you are on the other side of a situation. Perhaps you have been waited on in restaurants all your life, then find that you become a waitress. Perhaps you always watch the news, then find you are ON the news.

Over my life I have never missd an opportunity to cast my vite in a General Elections. I don’t know that I have vote din all the Primaries, but I can tell you I cast every general Election vote I was allowed.

Things I remember are checking my name on the registered voters list, having them check my drivers license, then receiving, voting and submitting my ballot.

Now I am on the other side of the table.

I amd mambers of my non-profit group, the Kona Coffee Farmers Association (http://KonaCoffeeFarmers.Org) will be helping out in both the Primary and in the General Election as Election Officials. I am not yet sure which position I will be filling, but each of the jobs is critical to a smooth and honest election. Let me not belittle that idea with the information that we also get paid… but we have asked that the stipend be donated to our non-profit group.

Tonight we spent 3 hours going over each position manned during the voting process and tested ourselves in each function.

It will be a long day for us because we report to work at 5:30am! However, we will be part of a process that most people have only seen from the other side of the desk.

It gives you cause for thought too as other countries begin using a Democratic process of voting where they used to elect who they were told to vote for. By volunteering here to help, we are not afraid, yet in some countries, people doing this same task might have invisable targets painted on their backs.

Freedom to vote. Enjoy it. Excercise it. Protect it!