Primary Elections 2012

Today was the Alaska Primary Elections.  Luke and I woke up before 5 a.m.  (Well I woke up before 5...Luke didn't have to.  He doesn't need as much time to get ready...oh to be a guy!)

By 5:40 a.m. we were off to South Anchorage to work at a polling location.  (These are pictures of the location...but taken in the evening...not the morning...)

By 6:30 a.m. we (and the other 3 workers-Lindsay, Cherie, and Patty) were setting up our voter registers and ballots on the tables, getting ready to process voters.  (And no voting experience would be complete without an "I voted" sticker at the end.)

Polls opened at 7 a.m. and didn't close until 8 p.m.  After that we had to make sure all the numbers balanced, and pack up all our stuff.

By 9:30 p.m. we had turned in all our data and equipment to the elections office.

Phew!  What a day!  It even included a power outage between the hours of 3-4 p.m.  But that didn't stop us.  We actually had quite a lot of people come and vote during that time.  We did our best with flashlights and cell phones and we moved some polling booths under the emergency lights on the exit signs.

This is what running a polling location in the dark looks like:

 Yes, we are awesome (just in case you were wondering...)!

We all took guesses on how many people would come and vote at our polling location.  Cherie guessed 410, and we all thought she was crazy.  Well...she totally won!  We had 432 or something like that.

It was a really fun day!

Next stop, November.  We will be back in the same place.  Hopefully without the power outage!

Project Citizen

Yesterday a lady from church (that I used to visit teach) asked if I was free on Friday.  I told her I was, and she asked if I would be willing to help judge some projects for Anchorage School District.

I said sure, why not?!

So this morning I car pooled with Bev (the lady who asked me to help), Lynn (a lady from another church ward in the area), and Cathie (another lady from my ward).

We made our way into town--to the BP energy center.  (I told Luke I was at the BP energy center, and he said "where's that?".  I said "it's in the woods south of the BP tower".  To which he replied "sounds like something out of a horror movie"...)

Don't worry...it's not a scary building...

The projects were by middle school/jr. high classes.  As a judge I had to listen to the presentations and then ask questions and give the group a score on a score sheet based on content of their presentation.

It was really fun!

I was paired with another judge (Lisa) and we listened to 4 presentations.  They were about:

1-Homeless People
2-Fireworks
3-Underage Drug and Alcohol Use
4-Dog Poop

Each group had to identify a problem, come up with ideas to solve the problem (including pros and cons to each idea), choose one idea to focus on, and tell how it should be implemented.  They also have to say which branch of government would be involved in the implementation, and they have to prove that their idea is constitutional.

Some were a lot better than others...and I wish I had known more about the subject matter beforehand so I could have been a better question asker/feedback giver...  Oh well.  Next time...

Oh.  They also fed us pizza.

Paid in full...ness!  haha!  :)

If you want to read more about the Project citizen program-since I did a mostly horrible job describing it- (and believe me...I filled out a few score sheets today...so I know) you should click here.

Happy weekend!

I'm a Helper!

Cathy, a girl I know from church, got a grant from the American Dental Association to go to schools on the military base and the one in our neighborhood and teach Kindergarteners and 1st graders about dental health and hygiene.  (Her husband is a dentist in the military, and she has done this kind of thing in the past...when her husband was in dental school.)

Anyway, she heard I was a dental assistant and she asked me if I'd be willing to help.  (I said yes...)

Today was bag stuffing day.  All 480 of them.

We rocked it!

There were a total of 6 of us working on the assembly line.  (2-Cathys 2-Lindsays 1-Tiffany and 1-Manda)

My job was to pack the loaded bags in boxes, and to put tooth brushes and tooth paste in the bag when needed.

We were all done in just over an hour.  That's pretty good if you ask me!