02:55 - 12.01.06
Ai
It's been rather intense around the workplace and I find I've gotten to that point where it is hard to determine when something is an intentional act or when it is a mistake with respect to certain staff. Part of that is that I don't have the time to directly supervise anyone - just give them their next set of directions and hope they understand what I need to receive back as "deliverables". It is apparent there are a couple of power struggles going on and that is frustrating too. The need for power over others is a sickness bred of an unwillingness to take responsibility for one's own life. If running away from one's reality by damaging someone else's is a goal the only outcome is disease of the whole entity. That includes a workplace setting.
Monday started out in a haze of fatigue. My back was really painful and I had hoped to slip out to see my chiropractor. Tw of my staff came rushing in to my office claiming a woman was on her way to see me who was irate because she couldn't acquire a ballot for her spouse who is working in a remote area. That is a simple fix with a quick trip to the Returning Office or it's satellites in the area where he works. Rural Returning Officers have to deal with large numbers of seasonal or migrant workers and they make a lot of effort to ensure that the itinerant are also serviced. called the Returning Office for Yellowhead to find out where they had their locations and also to ensure I understood their processes before talking with that woman. The one woman who has been a problem with her constant escalation of small issues to large had gotten our special ballot co-ordinator so flustered that she couldn't think it through. So after I finished preparing for the tempest I ensurd that each of the key players - excluding the troublemaker - had the information so they manage better next time a cranky voter called. We aren't responsible for holding anyone's hand in the exercise of their franchise, if they aren't willing to take reasonable steps to ensure they vote that is their issue not ours. While I was waiting for the one angry woman to show up I managed to send off the list for DR's that we had printed the night before and the set of three disks that contained the candidates version of the revised list as well. The printer called and said that they couldn't extract the information from the first of the three disks so a second copy needed to be sent out later. She then called back to ask about the formatting. Their digital expert couldn't reproduce it the standard way. I called the "help" desk in Ottawa asking for permission to install Access software on to my desktop so that I could import and convert the file to a useable format. No way - can't be allowed. I couldn't get hold of my tech either so I had to ask them to do the best they could with what was one the diskettes. I found it odd that the question was asked since they are also producing the lists for another ED. How were they dealing with that? By that time I was feeling as though I was going to blackout because of the pain in my neck and back. Not the best time to be asked to make a decision.
Monday morning I also directed my assistant to start with preparations for the advance polls starting this Friday. She checked the space on the main foyer again after I expressed concerns about it's workability for the amount of traffic we expected. There are businesses ringing the area and no way to mitigate the inconvenience that would occur if we insisted on using that space. After she had come back with her measurements it was decided that we would hold all the voting in our office instead of splitting it half and half. Crowd control is still an issue, but strict regulation of the traffic in the one entry way will at least mean no other business is affected. I decided we would move the recruitment staff and the office co-ordinator out of their offices and then each advance poll would be contained in that one room. The biggest impact will be on our receptionist so we will have to ensure she will be protected. Turnout is expected to be heavy with the two leading parties trying to get their vote out before the weather turns nasty. We were still in a chinook flow at the time but this morning woke to find snowy icy streets. Maybe the shape of things to come but maybe not. The forecast to midweek next week is for continuing mild temperatures mostly. Can't fool Mother Nature to be certain but we can't do anything to influence her behaviour either. Just deal with it best we can. One of our young wizards created the map - visual aid to help voters identify their advance poll number. It turned out to be almost a work of art. It is hung up so it is easily seen as soon as one walks in.
Work on recruiting continued - more online applications and the letters to principals of local schools sent out asking for their volunteers to step forward into a paid position. Talk back and forth with the woman co-ordinating our hospital voting. She was having trouble with one of the staff members there who must be on board but a brief email toher boss fixed that. We do our best not to make a lot ofwork for non-election staff and very little is required of her to ensure patients get the information they need. Adding alredy printed and folded pamphlets - done that afternoon by our receptionist and co-ordinator - to each breakfast tray isn't asking too much I don't think. Found the last person we needed to fill up the roster for that initiative so moved on to the next tasks.
Visit from one of the politacal party presidents quetions and answers. Felt as though it was a bit of a fishing expedition and in the middle of it the local Ottawa rep called. Ignored her because the last thing I wanted was to try and discuss what might be sensitive issues when a politician was present. For example any discussion of personnel or voter information would be a direct violation of a number of pieces of legislation. Can't do that. He had asked some questions that were very insightful and it meant I had some more tools to rovide to all the candidates by the end of the discussion. Not so bad after all I guess - make lemonade out of lemons by just adding a little sugar.
Yesterday there was good news when I opened email first thing. Request for extra supervisor hours was approved but not anywhere near enough given the extra tasks they have needed to do for me because of the poor quality o the information on the list. I continue to compile the spreadsheet of calls from electors with very odd tales to tell. Dead people from two elections ago is almost becoming routine. Ditto for people who have moved a decade ago and are still on our list and those who have lived in another Electoral District for several decades who now have been moved tomy lists. Some of the other information is very disturbing and points more to the tracks of someone engaged in identity theft. Importing information from various registrtion databases reveals patterns of deception that wouldn't normally be visible otherwise. Report that to the big guy and he wants specifics. Fair game but which free five minutes of the day can I give him - the bio break time or the sleeping time. Continuing work on recruiting and training. Setting up a time with one disability society to go train their clients how to participate in the process. Calls from housebound voters wanting us to come to their homes. The act allows for that but we are encouraged not to do that unless all other means of having someone vote at our office are exhausted. Part of the problem is the staffing we are allowed. No overlap of hours are in the budget yet we have to have someone avaialbe on site at all times too. Now I can and do cover for my ballot co-ordinators but again it is at the expense of my own work not being completed. A lot of our voters have very limited language skills in either English or French so considerably more time must be allotted to help each voter exercise their franchise. I spent some time doing that as well as participating in the training that is a daily event now in the office. We finally have all our central poll supervisors so a good chunk of Tuesday morning was spent with my head recruiter and my assistant deciding where to strategically place different people based on the nature of the community and the supervisors skills so that the best efects would be possible. Had discussions with a couple over boundaries they need to respect. The ability to hold power is best demonstrated in helping other people perform their best not in bullying others. Uh huh. One school already quibbling over the space guaranteed to for our use. Too late in the process to back out unless the building burns down. Answering endless inquiries from the staff and public plus troubleshooting are all that I seem to be doing right now.
Today was the third exercise in testing the electronic system for effective transmission election night. We have scrambled tomake things work in spite of the flaws for the entire event at incredible cost of time and effort and still it appears that no fixes are being employed. A decision is taken to not intervene to prevent a crash this time so that Ottawa can see what is really occurring instead of ensuring the results are clean in an artificial manner. Better now than on election night right? My financial officer popped in yesterday while training was in process to explain how little was left in our budget for staff for the next three weeks. An examination of the figures today revealed that original calculations at head office were for another Electoral District. Since our budget is predicated on the amount of population and the number of electors on the list being shorted a few tens of thousand of bodies does make it a bit of an issue. Last election we had double the funding for core staff than we do now even though that event was 20 days shorter than this one. Several hours of analysis last night and today allowed all the data to be captured in yet another spreadsheet - god bless excel - so that the visual representation was definitive. Oi. It would certainly be nice just to be able to do my own job without all the extra tasks thrown in but I guess it isn't optional is it?
One candidate representative arrived to ask about the polling districts I had had to split and to offer his own gift. A disk with a list of their supporters who were missing from our list that was provided to us from Ottawa. His numbers of missing people were even higher than the 10,000 that I estimated were missing based on the April City Census data. Much as I appeciated the intention I had to destroy the disk. It isn't that I don't want to have access to that information but it isn't an authorized source, the citizens on the list haven't been advised of the use of their information and I have no way of verifying the contents. Even with our lists that is a major challenge even when I know the root sources. I had a long discussion with my tech about it first however but we both understood clearly that the ethical issues involved would make it impossible to use. In the midst of that a call from a local media outlet - could they do a story about the legislation that requires employers to give time off work to their employyes to vote under particular circumstances. Well that is an important bit of the law and the fines for not honouring are significant, but a judge would have to interpret that not me. I explain that I have to get clearance for that type of interview from head office and the caller is kind enough not to press the issue. I talk with the media representative who informs me that she has just talked with the same person and that she will be doing the interview - with a thank you very muchtone of voice. Fine by me. I had offered to fax the text of the act to the reporter but I know when to fold them, know when to walk away and know when to run - sometimes - as Kenny Rogers sings. Bedtime is something else I need to do - Good Night dear diary.
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