PE 2011

Completed my first national duty: be one of the few thousands of people involved in PE 2011.

This blog entry is not intended to comment about the results, but rather, to pen down my thoughts about being part of the process as an official and a voter at the same time.

I was complaining about having to report at 6am. And the truth is, I was still complaining when I was at the station at 6am. The reason being, even though we were asked to report at 6, there was nothing to do except waiting, till around 7 am when the other team came with all the ballot boxes and other stuff.

Setting up was fast because most of the job was done on the eve of polling day so we spent the next 1.5 hrs waiting and anticipating what kind of incidents may happen.

Early birds came in at 7.45am, but unfortunately the polling process can only start at 8am sharp.

I must say that I felt this immense feeling of excitement, pride, patriotism and a weird sense of 感动 when the ARO announced that it is 8am and polling starts.

My first job was to be the guide, directing people to the polling booth, the ballot box and then the way out. 5 hours of standing is no joke, my back and foot aches. Junior and parents came to vote while i was a guide.

Voted in the morning when the crowd died out. PO tag has to be removed while you vote because you're supposed to be an ordinary voter.

What I do observe and experience is that unfortunately, most people are seriously arent friendly/polite. Are we in a society which cultivates and promotes pro-social attitude and behaviour?

After lunch, I was switched around to do channeling of the crowd. This is a slightly better job because at least I get to sit on the bench when there is nobody queuing to poll. Ben and wife, Kenneth and sister came to vote when I was the channeling guide. Hardly had time to talk to them because there wasnt anybody in the queue when they came so their clearance was fast.

My SPO, who is a very good supervisor decided to let me try out different roles like handling the ballot paper. It is only when you have a go at it that you realise it is not really as easy task, especially if there is polling agent around. Fortunately, no polling agents were around during PE, so I didnt have to shout out the serial numbers and names of the voters at the expense of my voice.

Sister and parents came to vote when I was doing the ballot paper. Chose not to be at the registration booth that my household was allocated to. Didnt want to feel weird. Dad came in wheelchair because he felt giddy at the bus stop when he came back from work. Waited for 2 hours there before calling sister for help when he thought he would not be able to make it for polling in time. Funny dad.

SPO decided to expose me to more stuff on duty by asking me to go to the counting centre with the ballot boxes, which was not part of my job as a member of team 2. Good supervisors expose you to more stuff to be more aware and knowledgeable about the whole process.

2 JIT cases of voter: 1 came with unacceptable identification document, 1 came with a wrong polling card. Both managed to come back in time to cast their votes at 7.58/59pm. Good job!

Packing up was chaotic because we had to protect the ballot boxes a midst all the mess. Went off under the escort of the police with the ballot boxed to the counting station. At that point of time, I really felt that I was assuming a super important role.

Day ended at 8.45pm in a dead beat state. And the best thing, no special incident happened, no incident report required. Good job! :)

Thoughts of the day: you never realise how complicated and the amount of effort and time that is necessary to ensure the smooth-running of the election process until you become part of it. I have a much better understanding of the entire process and I'm glad and thankful to be part of it.

Some people say those officials involved in election duties are money-faced because they get allowance. They say those officials volunteered to be there for the money. As much as I dont really care about what they think, I feel a need to speak up for them for justice sake. We dont get to choose to be part of it, and we definitely dont do it for the money! These people can continue to look at election officials with tinted lens, for our conscience is clear.