It’s been said that in reality, there’s no such thing as not voting. You either vote by voting, or you vote by not voting, thereby doubling the value of someone else’s vote.

Yesterday, millions of voters nationwide showed their eagerness to get out and vote as they headed to the polls. To kick-off my first contribution the newly resurrected “Punching the Clock” series, I braved my way through the forest of political campaign signs invading the streets of Norwich to lend a helping hand to Chenango County poll workers at the City of Norwich polling site at St. Bartholomew’s Parish Center on East Main Street – the busiest of the 22 polling stations in Chenango County.

As an untrained, uncertified, and unofficial poll worker, my responsibilities were limited (out of concern that I might break our country’s electoral process). Understandable. After all, I don’t want to mess up voting for everyone. Nevertheless, I was more than welcomed by the Chenango County Board of Elections to observe how the well-oiled machine that is the local electoral process operates.