It's been nearly 3 months since the election as I write this so there are a few things, like the name of my poll clerk, that I do not remember, but all in all it was a tremendous experience that I hope to repeat again.  Oh wait, her name was Vanessa C.

I obtained the position of Deputy Returning Officer simply by calling the elections officials in my riding and asking if I could work at a polling station. They asked me my background and said they would like me to run a poll as a DRO.  I went for my training a couple weeks in advance and swore an oath.  I cast my ballot at an advance poll 5 days before election day.  On Sunday, the day before elections, I picked up my stuff (voting screen, ballots, ballot box, name tags, all the returning forms, seals...).  

On election day, November 27th, I had to be at the station for 7:00 a.m. in order to swear in the scrutineers and set up my table. The polls opened at 7:30 a.m. and people came to vote from then until we closed at 7:30 p.m.  There were 8 stations in the 2 rooms we had and my table got switched half way, just to accommodate another table (the people in charge didn't really have much common sense to begin with).  I had to plead with the Head DRO to allow us other DROs give oaths to people who did not have their voter registration cards.  We got it after she called central station.

I had a host of characters come in to vote. One guy in a wheelchair swore because we told him he was at the wrong table.  Amber came and took my picture after she cast her vote.

My riding was one of the most exciting ridings in Canada as there was a fierce battle between the Liberals (who held the seat before the election, one of 2 Liberal seats in all of Alberta) and the Canadian Alliance who thought they could take the entire province. In fact the race was so tight that at one point in the evening, both Unger and McClellan thought they had won because of the news latest information.  I walked to my sisters to watch the election results and they were already saying that Unger had beaten McClellan, the current Minister of Justice before my poll's votes even went to the station. Very funny. Here's an article from the Edmonton Journal covering the tight race.

Counting the ballots was super fun. I was the only one allowed to touch the ballots and I needed several witnesses to make it official.  The official count at my table is as follows:

Rory Koopmans for the Progressive Conservative: 19
Anne McClellan for the Liberal: 117
Peggy Morton for the Marxist-Leninist: 0
Dan Parker for the Canadian Action: 0
Betty Unger for the Canadian Alliance: 93
Richard Vanderberg for the New Democratic: 9

You can view the results for each province
There were a total of 238 people who voted at my table and each one of their votes counted. (unlike at an election in a land not so far away and not so long ago...)

To top it all off, I even got paid, (pretty well) for my time and enjoyment.