11:50 p.m. - 2004-06-18
Exhaustion
We arrived at the office at about 7:15 am today. My assistant had called in the assistant to the automation co-ordinator to see if he could relink us to Ottawa. We were back up in less than half an hour and I had written instructions from him telling me how to reconnect properly should that happen again.
E-mailed the letter I had sent to the hospital administrator last night to my contact in Elections Canada. There was a definite turn around in attitude by lunch time. No problem with working out the delivery of pamphlets and whatever was necessary to get the rest of the work done. Then I emailed an edited version of a PSA to the local EC rep for recruiting more polling day staff. We are close but with no margin for error so better safe than sorry - right?
Tried to get everything in place to generate the Statement of Changes that has to be produced to give to the DROs for the advance polls. In the interim the person who had messed up my mobile polls when they called from Ottawa called me. All sorts of excuses but no real assistance. The software EC had used is a major problem but why not just admit that rather than constantly trying to cover up the problems. There's a lot to be said for honesty.
It was like trying to swim in treacle to get any help getiing the room set up and the supplies in place for the advance poll openings at noon. Truth was that I had completed most of the cdocument preparation late last night. It just needed to be handed out. Did my staff do that? No. After several requests that they give the staff the critical material like ballots and ballot boxes I found I still had to intervene 15 minutes before polls opened to ensure that everything necessary was in place. The polling day staff weren't helpful either. Everyone seemed to feel their job was to sit and look dramatic while I waited on them. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. As it is the group didn't even have to set up their chairs or tables, but they still complained about that. They complained about the lack of facilities and ignored the security procedures that were put in placeA lot of voters came out on the first day - over 400. In our area that is phenomenal.
I spent time with my automation co-ordinator working on merging some polls while splitting others. when I drew the original boundaries the key areas wwere very similar in their demograhics and development. That being said one area grew not at all during the past six months while the other area more than doubled. Sort of like a crap shoot in some ways when trying to determine growth potential over the period between the preparation and the actual election.
Next up I spent time with my recruitment supervisors trying to get all our ducks in a row with respect to staffing for polling day. I started spreadsheets for each polling site so that it would be easier to track the changes in positions by several people each having their own point of view and needs for that information. In between that the phones rang constantly with questions from voters and other Returning Officers as well as incoming calls about training. Everyone seemed to think they could just walk into my office to shoot the breeze even though it was obvious I was trying to get everything I needed to do completed. Even shutting the door didn't seem to be enough of a hint for some of the thicker ones. I had a couple of people I neede d to interview or go through next steps for tasks as well. The troublemaker(s) were at it again and so was Ottawa. Everything NOw but with no offers of help. If it keeps up, I suppose I have the option of just shutting down the office until people get off their backsides and help instead of playing the prima donna, high maintenance babies they seem to have become. Left at 9:00 pm to complaints that I wasn't going to hang around and play. Right like I have the time or energy for that.
Not much better on the home front either. I arrived home to find that the grass till hadn't been cut. Fine I did it myself - that's the most physical exercise I've had in a week -long overdue and very welcome. Still needed to order groceries online but the website kept crashing. I finally gave up. The cats are being brats too. I know it's because they want my time and attention but I'm too overwhelmed to even start to be the mamma anymore. I'm glad there's only 10 days to go. The body and mind are both beginning to show the damage.
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