For yesterday's California election I worked a 16 hour shift as the Inspector out my Oakland polling location. My team of five was extraordinary considering that we never previously met and had barely any training. Thankfully I had an experienced co-worker who helped me run the show and trained me in real-time.
In 2004 I also managed a polling location, that time in Oakland's Fruitvale District. It was exhausting and I must have forgotten because yesterday was the same. However, I did meet many of my neighbors and people were grateful for our team's hard work.
What was surprising throughout the day, was that people told me they were not voting for Oakland Mayor. I never asked why but o had to wonder. Was it that there were 10 candidates and people couldn't differentiate? Or, was it confusion over our new Ranked Choice Voting system? Of more concern, is it that people are disillusioned or disinterested in who runs Oakland and how they do it?
Oaklanders, when will we remove this chip from our shoulder?
