Training, Training and More Training

Last week was my week of training.  I had training for 4 days.  Three were for elections and one was for every county employee.


Last Monday I had to be in Billings for elections training with the Secretary of State.  This training gets me certified to run an election.  Monday morning was horrible, it was a blizzard out there in the morning.  I had to be in Billings and checked in by 11:30 am, training would start promptly at 1:00 pm.  We were on our own for lunch.


Gary and I went swimming that morning and it was nice, at least no snow.  That all changed in the hour we were in the pool.  It was snowing at 7:00 am and it got worse.  I called Dulcie, she is the Election Administrator, I'm her deputy.  I asked her what time we absolutely had to be checked in, she told me 11:30 and asked why.  I asked if she had looked out her window lately, she hadn't.  When she did I could hear her exclaim "Holy *$#!".  This is mandatory training for work so I had to go.
I traded vehicles with Gary, he wasn't happy that I had to go, but I wanted a 4 wheel drive vehicle and his truck is higher that my little car.  I left town at 9:10 am.  I kept in touch by text with Dulcie, her husband drove her to Billings, so they were ahead of me.  Dulcie kept texting me about the goings on up ahead, but of course I couldn't read them while I was driving.


The driving lane was ok, the passing lane was very snowy and when someone would pass I was in a white out.  Glad I had the pickup, wasn't too bad when a regular vehicle would pass, but when I was passed by the semi, I was in a complete white out.  It was white knuckle driving.  Of course there were idiots out on that road, driving very fast.  Too fast for conditions.  I just went slow and I didn't pass anyone.


There were two vehicles off in the ditch at the county line, hope drivers were ok.  By the time I got there help was already there.  I was so glad to get to Billings.  I got to the hotel where the conference was at 10:30.  Got checked in and then just stayed put.  Met up with Dulcie.


The state was paying for one motel room for each county, Dulcie did get a double bed room, but I didn't want to stay in Billings.  She has to sleep with a CPAP machine and I wouldn't get any sleep.  I chose to drive home and come back.  Fortunately the storm blew through and by afternoon it was nice and sunny, roads were dry on the way home.  Hard to believe they were the same roads as the morning.


Tuesday I had to be in Billings by 8:00 am.  I left a little early not knowing it would snow again or not.  Never know, but it was beautiful, dry roads.  The state really treats training attendees very well.  On Monday our afternoon snack was cheese and meat assortments.  Tuesday morning snack was a yogurt and fruit parfait, afternoon snack was fresh fruit assortments and cheese.  For lunch the state provided and it was a taco bar.  Very yummy.  I learned quite a bit from the training and now I'm certified to run the election.  We have to be certified every two years.


Wednesday morning was the county mandatory training for discrimination.  We had a two hour session, while the elected and department heads had a three hour session in the afternoon.  We had a very lively discussion on several topics that are considered discrimination and going over the scenarios. In my group there were quite a bit of Sheriff's Office and Ambulance personnel.  I had to shake my head at some of the stuff these young people were talking about and what they didn't consider discrimination.


Thursday was the fun day of training.  We got to be trained on the new voter machine.  The county bought the new one last year, it should be easier and this machine will count folded ballots better than the old one.  The old one would stop at every folded ballots, so the 2012 general election was very time consuming when it came time to count all the ballots.  I was in Vegas during this time, so I missed out on all this fun.  2012 was the year that I got assigned to work elections, but I had already booked this Vegas trip.


We got to run test ballots through, learned how to clean the machine and run it.  It was fun.  I will be running the machine for the primary election in June as Dulcie's husband will be on the ballot.  Not that there would be a problem, but this way someone won't be able to complain that she skewed the numbers.