Your here for who?

Begin:

"You're here for who?"

"The Capital District Election Service. I'm calling in early election results to all these networks."

I pointed to the bottom of the credentials where there were logos for Capital News 9, The Times Union, WGY, WNYT, WTEN, WXXA, and a few others.

"OK ... I'm just going to have to see your Identification."

I handed the old lady my license.

"Hmm ... now where does it say your name on this sheet here?"

"It doesn't, but if you call the toll-free number on the back and ask them who is covering this precinct they should have my name on file."

An old man began to take interest.

"Now what numbers do you need?"

I showed him the sheet I was to fill out. There were columns to count the numbers for the presidential race, state Supreme Court, New York House, state Senate, state Assembly, Albany County District Attorney, Albany Board Of Education, and a proposition.

"OK, well we haven't finished counting the results."

It was around 9:00 p.m. at this point, and the polls were now closed to the public.

"OK, well I'm also covering four precincts uptown on Delaware Avenue, so I guess I can go make the rounds up there, and then come back. Do you think you'll be done in about a half hour?"

"That seems about right." ---

Refusal:

"Hi, I'm with the Capital District Election Service. I stopped by earlier to--"

"You're what? You're from where?"

"The Capital District Election Service. I stopped by earlier to check in, and there didn't seem to be a problem."

"What do you need?"

"I need to fill in the blanks on these papers."

I produced the ballot with the blank spaces next to the candidates names.

"Well, I've gotta go. Get them from someone else."

The man rushed out the door. A woman turned her attention to me.

"Well ... we had 496 voters."

"Thank you ma'am. These are actually the numbers I need right here."

She looked at the ballot sheet.

"Oh, OK. He was actually the one that had all those numbers. He was bringing them over to the board of elections."

"So nobody here knows these numbers?"

"No, he had all of them in that bag."

I ran out the door to track him down, but he was nowhere to be seen. --- Desperation:

"Should we even try that precinct downtown again?" I asked Justin.

"I think we should just head over to the Board of Elections. Otherwise we're just going to get down there, and wind up getting referred to the Board of Elections anyway."

"OK, fine. Get in the car."

NPR was on the radio. The reporter said, "Ohio has just gone to Barack Obama. No Republican presidential candidate has ever won the presidency without this state."

I looked at the clock. It was only 9:30 p.m.

"Alright, here's Russell Road up on the right."

I walked around to the side door, but it was locked. I spotted a classmate in the lobby.

"Shaun!"

He saw me, and told one of the female workers. She came over to open the door.

"Hi, I'm with the Capital District Election Service, I need to get the end results of five polling places to call in to the networks on the bottom of this sheet."

"Come on in. You're going to have to wait at this counter over here, and the results will show up on that screen over there."

"So are the numbers just going to show up on that screen by precinct?"

"No the numbers will show up with the total at the end of the night. Sometimes we're working here until midnight or later."

I dialed the toll-free number for the CDES into my phone.

"Busy."

I called back six times before I got through.

"Hi, I'm at the Board of Elections right now, and I'm having difficulty getting the numbers to report."

"I'm sorry sir, please tell me the results for one election at a time."

The woman was obviously in a buzzing roomful of people.

"No, I don't have any results. I'm at the Board of Elections and I'm having difficulties."

A man came on the phone.

"Hello sir, what is the problem?"

"I was supposed to call in results for five precincts in Albany, but I was unable to get the numbers at the polling places, so I am now at the Board of Elections trying to get the numbers, but I'm having difficulties, and I was wondering if you could call the board here and try and sort this out."

"OK where are you now?"

"I'm in the back room, and the numbers are in the front room, but I think they're trying to make me wait until they count them to give me the results."

"OK well once they count them and send the official results our way, we will no longer need your numbers. You were only calling in early results before the Board of Elections got the numbers."

Game Over.