Elections and Something to Eat Afterward!

No matter where you stand on politicians, I think you owe it to yourself to volunteer at the polls at least once in your life. I did it for the recent presidential election and am so glad I did. Even though the day was long, 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., it was actually fun and pretty wonderful to see democracy in action. I met some wonderful people and felt so good that things went so smoothly. And may I add, thank God this is over! One more election commercial could have been the end of me. Oooof! I had no idea I was so popular with so many candidates. They were calling, texting, emailing. Who knew?

I did the training online and the last chapter of the training was on how to defuse a situation. That made me more than a little nervous living in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. But we had absolutely no problems, not even from people who had to vote provisionally because their information was somehow not in the system.

We only had one person who filled out the ballot incorrectly and marked two candidates instead of one, so the machine rejected it and I was able to catch the man before he walked out. His English was not great, but he was a citizen and wanted to vote. I loved seeing that. It reminded me of my parents and how important they felt it was to vote in every election because it was a right they did not take for granted. The man’s son helped him and he was able to fill the ballot out properly the second time.

There were three voting stations in our building and I must say ours was the most fun. My co-worker, Bill sported this fabulous t-shirt, which I couldn’t stop laughing at. I would have taken more photos, but you aren’t allowed to photograph at the polls, which was a bummer for a few young ladies who wanted to get selfies. I didn’t want to get in trouble on my first time at the polls, so I only got the shot of the t-shirt.

I wore a purple sweater, which I thought was appropriate. Only one co-worker, Kim and I talked about politics a little. The others, Lark and Bill didn’t mention it, which was fine. It was nice for us all to just be Americans trying to make sure our democratic system ran well.

I was the majority inspector, a title that sounds way more important than it actually was. Since this was my first time, I took a backseat and let others tell me what to do. I was thrilled to be with people who had done this many times before.

We had a wonderful “Judge of Election.” That’s the person who’s responsible for running the polling site. He was a third year law student, who had to work the polls as part of a class he was taking. His name was Alex and he was a delight. It can be stressful, opening up everything, making sure all the numbers match, all the equipment works, and all the supplies are there, and then wrapping everything up at the end of the night, but he did a great job. He handled every situation with professionalism and tact. I was told that I was lucky to have someone so capable running the site for my first time volunteering. Apparently it’s not always that way.

We had a poll watcher who turned out to be a professor at the university Alex attended. I wondered how involved he would get but he just generally observed and checked on a few things.

And we had a number of first time voters who came with their parents. When they were done voting, our group all clapped. It was honestly a great experience and all very respectful, which left me feeling proud and comforted that we live in a nation where peaceful elections still take place. Hopefully things will continue that way for the sake of all our children’s and grandchildren’s futures.

I made a decision long ago not to involve politics in my blog. I did it once and regretted it. I have too many friends and family members who have different positions on things than I do. I would rather have them in my life than lose them because of politicians who would certainly not eliminate friends and family for me. What we can do as private citizens is continue to talk and see where we agree and try to move on from there. I’m not going to stop loving people because they think differently than I do. If Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Antonin Scalia could be friends, what then is not possible? They bonded over opera, good food and wine and their New York childhoods.

I do encourage you to think about the media you consume. If you agree with everything you read, and it infuriates you, please go to different sources and see what they’re saying. I do it frequently to make sure I’m getting the whole story. Go online and look at what the most unbiased sources of news are and read those. Read what “the other side” is saying. Media companies on both sides are making money because they air grievance news, designed to make you angry so you keep watching. I like Reuters and the Associated Press and am going to keep looking for other news sources. I do listen to NPR. I think they try to be unbiased, but I hear it and at least am aware of it. We are doing our country no good by hating each other and thinking the other side is stupid or less than we are.

I just discovered TrueMedia.org, which is an organization started by Oren Etzioni, the first person to “major” in computer science at Harvard University. He is way smarter than I could ever hope to be. Here is a description of what he does: “Oren Etzioni is the founder of TrueMedia.org – a non-profit technology organization using AI to create a non-partisan, free, and broadly accessible dashboard to combat political disinformation by identifying manipulated media and AI-based forgery of video, audio, images, and text across social media platforms.” I discovered him because he is part of the Pittsburgh Speaker Series for 2024-2025.

So, if you doubt something, check it out at TrueMedia.org before you believe it or re-post it. Here is an interview he did with Trevor Noah about how TrueMedia.org works. We have to be so careful now. In the immortal words of Marvin Gaye in, “I Heard it Through the Grapevine,” “Believe half of what you see and none of what you hear.” And that was before AI!

Now, on to pressing matters like food because, man, a presidential election can really wipe the floor with you.

If you’re looking for something easy to whip up in the next weeks when you’ll be busy with Thanksgiving, try this recipe for Red Beans and Rice. I found it in the LA Times decades ago and it’s delicious! It calls for kielbasa, a staple here in Pittsburgh, which gives it great flavor. It’s very forgiving, you can mess with the ingredients (I always add more) and it still works well.

I swear I really am cutting down on meat, but this recipe is an exception. The good news is the kielbasa is really more of a seasoning instead of the main event in this dish. You could probably use a meat substitute and it would be fine, it just won’t have that smoky, slightly garlicky taste that kielbasa adds. (Cut me some slack my vegetarian friends, after all I am from Pittsburgh!) When you eat it, you really should add several healthy splashes of hot sauce. I use Frank’s Red Hot Original, but Sriracha works fine, or any other hot sauce you love.

If you enjoy this blog and the recipes and would like to be a supporter so I can stay caffeinated enough to turn out a blog on a regular basis, just click on buymeacoffee.com/FranTunno

And thank you!

Scrumptious Red Beans and Rice