Though this is only my second election in San Mateo County (in less than a year), I decided to sign up to be a poll worker -- and, since I'm writing more, blog about the experience.

This morning I opened a letter, purportedly from Warren Slocum, which read:

You are hereby notified, pursuant to Elections Code Section 12307, that the Chief Elections Officer has appointed you to serve as JUDGE of the precinct board for the CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL GENERAL ELECTION to be held on TUESDAY, 11/07/2006

Looks like "judge" is the title they give to generic precinct workers; other titles are "inspector" (clearly the person in charge) and "student PW" (probably a bored high school intern.)

Since I'll be in Toronto all next week, the only training sessions I'm likely to be able to get to are either tomorrow or mid-afternoon on the 30th, but I'm confident I can make one of those work.

Now...where's my absentee ballot? It should've arrived by now.

I put a lot of thought into the primary this summer, but for the general election next month Speak Out California says everything I'd've wanted to say, and more, and they're generally better-informed about this stuff than I am anyway. Unless new info comes out, I'll be following their guide as soon as my absentee ballot arrives.

Seems like all of the "exciting" races are in other states. I don't think I mind.

pictures from day 3

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So after that wonderful morning of introspection and afternoon in Boulder, I got a good night's sleep in the Hampton Inn in Grand Junction, Colorado, and woke up feeling both refereshed and completely ready to be done with the trip.

I mean, completely ready. Spending 8-9 hours driving each day was a lot more relaxing than 10-11 hours like I'd done on the trip out, but it was resulting in too many days -- and it looked like there'd be nothing but clouds and probably rain for the rest of the trip anyway. So I did a bit of research, and decided to re-route up US 6 to Salt Lake City and then get back on good ol' reliable boring 80, probably stopping in the middle of Nevada for the night.