Election Volunteering Reflection

On Tuesday April 26,2016 I volunteered with the Committee of Seventy by going to different polling places and collecting ballots and asking people survey questions. We were responsible in asking four questions to as many many that we could but only the people who were done voting. The four questions were 1. Would you support allowing voters the option to request and submit absentee ballots before Election Day without offering a reason or excuse, 2. Would you support allowing voters the option to vote for a certain period before Election Day at a select number of early voting locations, 3. Would you support amending the PA COnstitution to create an independent Citizens Redistricting Commission responsible for drawing Congressional and state legislative districts, 4. Would you support allowing independent and third party voters to vote in primary election. They voters had the choice to say Yes, No or Uncertain even though that seems so simple not all gave me a simple answer. I had the chance to go 4 polling places around my neighborhood on Election Day Volunteering for the Election Day was a great learning experience for many reasons. One reason it was a learning experience for me because I was actually involved in election which made me become more aware about it. It also made me realize that voting is really important because though it may not seem like your vote will matter it actually will. It also taught me that you don’t have to know everything to vote because while I was asking the people the survey questions not all of them knew what the questions meant. Though it was a great learning experience there were some challenges such as voters not wanting to answer the questions or them not understanding it. During this great experience I did not have the chance to meet anyone special or any of the candidates running. After collecting ballots and asking voters survey questions we were responsible for sending the pictures and tallies for the survey that we took to the Election Ambassador Program Coordinator Walker Moseley. I am glad that I had the chance to volunteer for Election Day and hope more high schoolers get the chance to do it to become more aware about what they will eventually have to do in the future.