story9461.xml
Title
story9461.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-09-04
911DA Story: Story
By 6:00 AM, September 11, 2001, myself and 5 other civic-minded citizens were all set up at our local polling place ready to receive the first voters in our Primary Election. We all lived in Anne Arundel County, Maryland and our polling place was in Annapolis, about a half mile from the US Naval Academy. Turn out was expected to be light as usual. The on-their-way-to-work voters came in chatting and laughing as the polling place is sometimes the only place that they have the time to speak to their neighbors. The election judges were all sharing the food and goodies we always bring with us for the long day.
When you agree to serve as an election judge you also agree that once you enter the polling place you will NOT LEAVE unitl the polls are closed, all tallys are taken and all supplies and machines are packed and out of the way. In Anne Arundel County this meant from 6:00 AM until 8:00 PM or 9:00 PM. Chief Judges are also required to take the paperwork to a drop-off point before going home.
This was not my first election as a judge and I absolutely loved doing it. People who vote are a lot like guests at a wedding; they are happy; they are seeing old friends they haven't spoken to in awhile; they always see familiar faces and deep inside they are proud and pleased to be there, as they should be. My only wish is that more Americans would make the effort to experience how satisfying it is to exercise a right that we tend to take for granted and millions of people over the world would gladly die for.
After what we called "the first wave" of voters we were eating (you tend to do a lot of that in 12-14 hours in one room) and just discussing stuff when a women entered hysterically yelling, "We're under attack! We're at war!" Now,as in any place open to the public, you do sometimes get visitors that are, well, a little different. Polling places are also not allowed radios or tvs so that no voter will be swayed by reports that some candidate is ahead of another.
All the judges were intent upon calming the woman and trying to get her voter information because we really didn't know what else to do, when another person, and then another person arrived with the incredible news that something evil was in fact happening. Two planes in New York-the Pentagon-somewhere in Pennsylvania-the Academy was on lock-down like some kind of prison! The Governor had a report that the Maryland State House (about 4 blocks from us) was next to be attacked! Total chaos!
In the ensuing hours I witnessed what I'm certain many New Yorkers did on that day. People were forming closer relationships. People were quiet. Those with cell phones were sharing them with those of us who had no way to contact our loved ones. We were located in Annapolis Elementary School where many, many students had parents who worked in D.C., some even in the Pentagon.
School was dismissed but teachers and administrators don't just close the doors in an emergency. They have not only agreed to teach our children but to take on the responsibility of their safety. When I finally left the poll that evening (and I have no idea what time that was since I had lost all track of the workings of objective things like watches) there were still children whose parents had been unable, for one reason or another, to contact the school or arrange for their children to be picked up. As I walked through the building I also saw teachers who must have had children of their own waiting at home comforting others' children while they all just waited and waited.
Once the other cheif judge and I had dropped off our paper work, we both started off in the same direction to go home. I do not own a car so I walk to and from the polling place. Although I usually look forward to the exercise after being confined all day, I was exhausted this horribly long day and would have jumped at the offer of a ride. However, the other judge just passed me by in her car. I went off thinking, "Just like a Republican!"
My route home took me directly through the grounds of the historic Maryland State House. I walked this route every day to work and back for two reasons. First of all the State House is beautiful and I love the feeling you get from all of the history that has taken place there. General George Washington resigned his commission there so that he could become the first President of the United States of America. The building even served as the National Capitol for a short time. During the day, when the building was open to visitors, I actually walked through the building-in one door and out the opposite. This in tribute to my mother who did the same in the state capitol building in Austin, Tx., where my parents lived during WWII.
This night though was very different. I remember wondering, "Are we now in WWIII"? The State House was taped off and surrounded by police who insisted that I go 2 blocks around to get to the other side. They looked at me with suspicion. Me with my collection of plastic bags, purses, and backpacks hauling all the necessities for a long day. I went around and started down the long avenue that leads to the State House from Route 50 where so many parents were stuck in traffic earlier trying to get home from Washington. I had walked and rollerbladed down this street hundreds of times at night and never once noticed that there are no street lights. Tonight there were no lights from the endless cars and no lights from the completely darkened State House. The bright stars from earlier that morning had just disappeared as if they had gone to ferry the many souls to their new home.
I literally felt my way home that night, just putting one foot in front of the other until I reached the only place where there was any light. This was a parking lot behind a State Police Barracks where I felt my very first pang of actual fear. I quickly inventoried all the bags attached to my person and remembered the look of distrust on the face of the police officers at the State House; for the first and only time I walked around that parking lot!
It's such a different world that we live in now; you cannot enter most public arenas with a backpack; you can no longer walk right through the Maryland State House (and probably the Texas State Capitol); you always wonder why that police officer or guard looked at you. I remember hearing once a citizen of Israel summing up the difference between living in the US and living in Israel in this way, "In America you get your bags checked as you leave a store; in my country they are checked before you enter." Well how about BEFORE and AFTER!
To all the people in Annapolis who took pity on 6 people stuck in one room for that never-ending day in September and brought us news-especially the Washington Post reporter who updated us every chance he could in what must have been a chaotic day; to all the teachers who stayed at school when they must have been terrified for their own childrens' saftey; to the local Papa John's pizza delivery person that
fought traffic and the fear of the unknown to deliver us pizza and the shop owner who comped it; to the police officers who stood in a place that was rumored to be the "next target" because it was their job and to those other just, plain civic-minded people who shared their cell phones and thier ears and comforted many strangers by being the calm against the storm. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and soul. And to anyone who has the patience to read this thank you for the sympathetic ear I just realized how cathartic it is to just "take up the pen" and work it out.
Just in case in comes up in conversation-I do include "that Republican" in this list. I came to my senses later and realized that she was no different than the rest of us. America was just dazed and confused. I should not have taken it so personally.
When you agree to serve as an election judge you also agree that once you enter the polling place you will NOT LEAVE unitl the polls are closed, all tallys are taken and all supplies and machines are packed and out of the way. In Anne Arundel County this meant from 6:00 AM until 8:00 PM or 9:00 PM. Chief Judges are also required to take the paperwork to a drop-off point before going home.
This was not my first election as a judge and I absolutely loved doing it. People who vote are a lot like guests at a wedding; they are happy; they are seeing old friends they haven't spoken to in awhile; they always see familiar faces and deep inside they are proud and pleased to be there, as they should be. My only wish is that more Americans would make the effort to experience how satisfying it is to exercise a right that we tend to take for granted and millions of people over the world would gladly die for.
After what we called "the first wave" of voters we were eating (you tend to do a lot of that in 12-14 hours in one room) and just discussing stuff when a women entered hysterically yelling, "We're under attack! We're at war!" Now,as in any place open to the public, you do sometimes get visitors that are, well, a little different. Polling places are also not allowed radios or tvs so that no voter will be swayed by reports that some candidate is ahead of another.
All the judges were intent upon calming the woman and trying to get her voter information because we really didn't know what else to do, when another person, and then another person arrived with the incredible news that something evil was in fact happening. Two planes in New York-the Pentagon-somewhere in Pennsylvania-the Academy was on lock-down like some kind of prison! The Governor had a report that the Maryland State House (about 4 blocks from us) was next to be attacked! Total chaos!
In the ensuing hours I witnessed what I'm certain many New Yorkers did on that day. People were forming closer relationships. People were quiet. Those with cell phones were sharing them with those of us who had no way to contact our loved ones. We were located in Annapolis Elementary School where many, many students had parents who worked in D.C., some even in the Pentagon.
School was dismissed but teachers and administrators don't just close the doors in an emergency. They have not only agreed to teach our children but to take on the responsibility of their safety. When I finally left the poll that evening (and I have no idea what time that was since I had lost all track of the workings of objective things like watches) there were still children whose parents had been unable, for one reason or another, to contact the school or arrange for their children to be picked up. As I walked through the building I also saw teachers who must have had children of their own waiting at home comforting others' children while they all just waited and waited.
Once the other cheif judge and I had dropped off our paper work, we both started off in the same direction to go home. I do not own a car so I walk to and from the polling place. Although I usually look forward to the exercise after being confined all day, I was exhausted this horribly long day and would have jumped at the offer of a ride. However, the other judge just passed me by in her car. I went off thinking, "Just like a Republican!"
My route home took me directly through the grounds of the historic Maryland State House. I walked this route every day to work and back for two reasons. First of all the State House is beautiful and I love the feeling you get from all of the history that has taken place there. General George Washington resigned his commission there so that he could become the first President of the United States of America. The building even served as the National Capitol for a short time. During the day, when the building was open to visitors, I actually walked through the building-in one door and out the opposite. This in tribute to my mother who did the same in the state capitol building in Austin, Tx., where my parents lived during WWII.
This night though was very different. I remember wondering, "Are we now in WWIII"? The State House was taped off and surrounded by police who insisted that I go 2 blocks around to get to the other side. They looked at me with suspicion. Me with my collection of plastic bags, purses, and backpacks hauling all the necessities for a long day. I went around and started down the long avenue that leads to the State House from Route 50 where so many parents were stuck in traffic earlier trying to get home from Washington. I had walked and rollerbladed down this street hundreds of times at night and never once noticed that there are no street lights. Tonight there were no lights from the endless cars and no lights from the completely darkened State House. The bright stars from earlier that morning had just disappeared as if they had gone to ferry the many souls to their new home.
I literally felt my way home that night, just putting one foot in front of the other until I reached the only place where there was any light. This was a parking lot behind a State Police Barracks where I felt my very first pang of actual fear. I quickly inventoried all the bags attached to my person and remembered the look of distrust on the face of the police officers at the State House; for the first and only time I walked around that parking lot!
It's such a different world that we live in now; you cannot enter most public arenas with a backpack; you can no longer walk right through the Maryland State House (and probably the Texas State Capitol); you always wonder why that police officer or guard looked at you. I remember hearing once a citizen of Israel summing up the difference between living in the US and living in Israel in this way, "In America you get your bags checked as you leave a store; in my country they are checked before you enter." Well how about BEFORE and AFTER!
To all the people in Annapolis who took pity on 6 people stuck in one room for that never-ending day in September and brought us news-especially the Washington Post reporter who updated us every chance he could in what must have been a chaotic day; to all the teachers who stayed at school when they must have been terrified for their own childrens' saftey; to the local Papa John's pizza delivery person that
fought traffic and the fear of the unknown to deliver us pizza and the shop owner who comped it; to the police officers who stood in a place that was rumored to be the "next target" because it was their job and to those other just, plain civic-minded people who shared their cell phones and thier ears and comforted many strangers by being the calm against the storm. Thank you from the bottom of my heart and soul. And to anyone who has the patience to read this thank you for the sympathetic ear I just realized how cathartic it is to just "take up the pen" and work it out.
Just in case in comes up in conversation-I do include "that Republican" in this list. I came to my senses later and realized that she was no different than the rest of us. America was just dazed and confused. I should not have taken it so personally.
Collection
Citation
“story9461.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 21, 2025, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/18065.