She was a tall 30-something who walked into the polling place at 6:50 p.m. on Election Day. I was standing by the door the woman entered, fulfilling my role as a poll watcher at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Palos Heights, Illinois. She turned to me and asked with a deadpan face: “What are the odds that I can both register and vote in the next 10 minutes?”
I shrugged and directed her to the first of three tables set up for the three precincts assigned to this location. I noticed she held a handful of documents in one hand as she began to tell her story. The good people of one precinct ran her driver’s license through a reader and directed her to the table of the precinct to which she belonged.
She started over with the new crew, this time producing a tax return, a utility bill and some other documents. Her plight, and the ticking clock, drew others from the poll workers’ team, all seemingly eager to get her registered in time so she could cast her vote before the clock struck 7 p.m. and the polls closed. They formed a small huddle around her as they worked away on her documents.
