Letters

Any U.S. citizen can understand the actual truth about election integrity, and I chose to learn it myself.

I spent last Tuesday as an election inspector at the East Quogue Elementary School. Anyone can do it. But once you do, you will learn truth about anyone who questions the integrity of elections in America.

I signed up a few months back with the Suffolk County Board of Elections, and then sat through a three-hour training session at the Hampton Bays Senior Center. There, you receive a booklet that serves as the instructional bible for the actual procedures. It seems somewhat daunting at first glance, but once you are performing the required tasks, it is logical, a little complicated and makes real sense.

When you are first assigned your position, about one month before the election date, you realize that the Election Board is looking for real balance in its inspectors, because you are assigned as either the Democratic or Republican inspector. When you are performing your tasks during the election operation, you will see that, literally, no procedure can be performed without equal representation, and signatures, from both parties.

The one thing it seems the public doesn’t understand is that we are required to be at the polling location at 5 a.m., perform the actual vote from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m., and cannot leave until the last ballot is accounted for and sent to the Board of Elections, and the voting machines are secured and made ready for the next election (about 10:15 p.m.).

The election inspectors (poll workers) work a very long day and truly deserve the respect of the voters for doing the job. I would say that there were fairly similar numbers of Ds and Rs in the room. I can truly say that I earned great respect for my political opposites, ending up not seeing them as opponents but as co-workers seeking to ensure a fair election.

The machinery of the election is simple — and, yes, it is Dominion. They have created a failsafe system that is functional and foolproof. Every registered Suffolk County voter can be found in the tablet database by name, address and date of birth. This is a stand-alone database, not connected to the internet and can’t be hacked.

I could not imagine how a poll worker of either party could suggest that there was a step in the process that could be manipulated to one party’s favor. I am sure that the voters and politicians who cast doubt on our democratic elections are not reading this account, but to all who cherish and care about our democracy, I hope you will consider “volunteering” for future elections. Its rewards are priceless.

Steven Rosmarin

Quogue

To sign up, contact the Suffolk County Board of Elections coordinator for the East End towns, Joe Lombardi, at 631-852-4532 — Ed.