Our friends Lisa and James brought their precious kids with them and James went out with Jeremiah and his dad to put up Chiappelli signs at all 35 polling spots. It took about 7 hours so they did it from 10pm-5am. Meanwhile, Lisa and I were trying to keep the 4 children asleep and welcoming our friend Mike B. and my sister Cecylia, who were both sleeping over.
Around 6:30am on election day, Jeremiah's parents arrived and the action started. Mike B., Cecylia, and James and Lisa were sent off to their polling spots to hand out Chiappelli cards and wave signs starting at 7am. Jeremiah's dad hopped on the segway and drove around one of the polling spots near our house, talking to people and waving in a Chiappelli tshirt. Jeremiah's mom and I started breakfast for the 4 kids, getting everything geared up for the Vote Chiappelli Daycare Service.
It was about 30 degrees outside and this was the first frost, so no one was acclimated. Jeremiah went to the store and bought a huge box of hand warmers that he gave out to his volunteers and anyone else's frozen volunteers that morning as he hopped from one polling spot to the next, trying to find where he could do the most good. He spent most of the day doing that.
There were other volunteers out there that didn't start out at our house. They had come to the pre-election meeting the night before to get their typed instructions, cards, and signs. They were sent in 3-4 hour shifts to the polling stations that Jeremiah's dad determined would be the spots of the most crucial votes. He determined 9 spots but we only had people to staff about 5 throughout the day (it's a 13 hour day). Still, we were in good spots and people who got feedback got generally good feedback. I didn't see many of these volunteers, but I know they were out there- thank you!
Rose, the amazing Campaign Manager and one helluva second wife, was on the go all day too, helping the volunteers and getting the word on the street. She's a wicked fast texter and kept Jeremiah's phone lit up all day with info. She also had the volunteers collecting voter number info from the election judges several times a day, which got sent back to the county Democrat's headquarters and they used that info to target robo calling to get out the vote in areas with little turn out. (Our campaign did no calling, no emailing, and no organized facebooking. We did no mailings and precious little door knocking. If you're sick of getting bugged by politicians, don't blame us- we didn't do it!)
I was at Daycare Central, caring for the original 4 kids and then 4 more kids around 10am. These are some of my most favorite kids- the children of some of my closest friends. It was blissful, having nearly all of my children playing together. Jeremiah's mom mostly looked after those under two and I mostly looked after those two and older, who played together like a pack (with half of the pack lagging after them, always running to keep up). We played outside, we played inside, we had snacks, and we had lunch together. Then my friend Jenny returned from her polling spot early and helped us orchestrate feeding everyone and getting two of the little ones down for naps while the others had relatively quiet time downstairs.
In the afternoon, Jeremiah gave most of his volunteers time off for good behavior because the polls are slow from 1-4pm. Note: this is the time to go! I took J. and her friend Sarah in the double stroller with Chiappelli signs and cards and we went up to a local polling spot to do some campaigning while the daycare was empty (the extra 4 had gone home and the other original 2 were napping). That was fun and cute until both girls simultaneously pooped their pants. So we came back home to get that all sorted out.
Our overnight guests all called it a day during the afternoon break. Fair enough! Thank you!
The late shift is the busiest: 4-8pm saw long lines at almost every polling spot. I voted during this time and it was so cool to Vote Chiappelli! I was in line for 30 minutes but reports from other spots had lines longer than an hour and wrapping inside and outside the building! Early Voting, people!
Aunt Julie came down to help Jeremiah's mom with dinner and bedtime for the girls. I went out to the polling spot by our house and said "Hi- this is my husband Jeremiah Chiappelli (handing them his business card). We live two streets from here and he's running for state delegate. I'm here if you have any questions and his platform is on the back." Most people were nice and many stopped and looked at the back or said they had met him or heard of him before. Good reception. It turned freakin freezing when the sun went down but polls stayed open until 8.
Jeremiah and I drove to the last 2 polling spots together, thanking volunteers and relieving the last ones from their post. Then we drove to a few other spots to take down his signs and the signs of the other Dems that were running for anything (Jeremiah had organized a cooperative of sign removal where each Dem candidate was responsible for finding people to take down all of the Dem signs at a few of the 35 spots.).
Then we went to the local Democrat club for their free dinner reception and to sit still for a moment. Some of our volunteers were there, as were the volunteers for some of the other candidates. There were also some people there who are Dems but didn't volunteer for anyone's campaign- gee, thanks guys. We got the numbers for early voting there and saw that even though our district had mostly democrats doing early voting, they were voting for Republicans. So we were in 4th place for early voting, which is not bad but not good- the top 3 become Delegates and these were the 3 incumbent Republicans.
I left Jeremiah in Rose's capable hands and went home. They were headed to the county Democrat party in Annapolis to party while waiting for the results of the election day proper. I was much more excited to sit with a heating pad on my tensed shoulder/neck muscles and drink tea with Julie. Thank you for being there with me, Julie!
Jeremiah came home in the early morning sometime after not sleeping for 2 nights. He found out he had come in 4th overall, which doesn't make him a Delegate, and that the 3 incumbents won reelection. Boo.
No comments:
Post a Comment