Reflection on Activities

• Was polling an enjoyable thing to do? It actually was! I was really skeptical at first because its awkward walking up to people and asking questions, but they actually can be very opinionated and its interesting how their opinions differ from others and even my own.

Questions from Election 101 Quiz

• Campaign spending has gone up quite a bit within the past 10 years. Why do you think that is? Where do you think that money goes? I think that a lot of the money goes into advertisements to not only promote the candidate, but also to bash the opposing parties. Also I think that some of the money, may go to the party that supports the candidate, and the staff who work behind the scenes. Although, I wish that money candidates receive towards their campaigns would be spent to enact programs and repair things that they’re promising while running. I think that this strategy would actually inspire a higher voter turnout for this candidate, because the people know that he/she is serious about the programs being promised.

General Wrap-up

• What did you know about today’s activity prior to today’s experience? Not as much as I thought I did. I’d always thought that voting was a rather simple process, but I never stopped to consider all of the people who work crazy long hours behind the scenes.
• What did you learn today? I learned that mostly elderly people work at the polling stations (which seems extremely obvious now because they generally have a lot of time on their hands). And I began to wonder how we could incorporate new types of jobs related to voting (because the vote is such a core value that Americans seem to pride themselves on a lot) so that elderly are not the only ones who are helping out. Perhaps fixing the online voting situation. And find new and innovative ways for people to be informed about what their local governments are doing after elections. I feel as though this may add a sense of prestige to working for the vote.
• What was the best part of today? Besides the food- which was fantastic! The polling. I talked with a lot of people that I would (under normal circumstances) never have any reason to go up to and talk to. I was intrigued by the diversity just in the small area I worked in, and began to wonder how people that live so close to one-another could end up having such different opinions.