I am an election clerk. I am recently retired and now have the time for civic participation. However, I had simply no idea how deeply I would be affected by this work. I am exhausted, exhilarated, tearful, and overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude for living in this country at this time.

Bureaucratic  bungling and inefficiencies aside, election officials and poll workers are just ordinary people who have decided, for one reason or another , to take on the responsibility of participating in the workings of their government. They work long and hard hours for meager compensation and few kudos. These unheralded citizens are just doing what they believe is right and good. They are among the reasons that democracy works.

There are myriad rules for poll workers.  No television or radio. No discussion about political positions.  No electioneering.  However, since we were not allowed to discuss our own party preferences, the moment was purely focused on the voting process and procedure itself.  The day was an emotional experience for all seven of us as we worked frantically from 6:00 a.m  to 9:30 p.m.  We did not know any of the data regarding the progress of the candidates and the propositions, but we met the voter and we distracted their children and we calmed their dogs.

The demographics of the neighborhood of this precinct include long blocks of high density small apartment s which housed middle class voters, many elderly Jews, and new citizens of all ages from Russia and Iran.  There was a sense felt by all that this was a very special moment in America.  We did not know the political inclinations of the people around us.  We did not know the hour by hour, minute by minute progress of the election. We knew that we were citizens engaged in something momentous in our country and in the world.  We knew that we were intimately involved in the democratic process and we were all grateful for that opportunity.

We appreciated the lack of complaints from the people in the long lines who were just so glad to be there to vote.  We heard from the elderly Iranian woman who asked me if I was Jewish because she wanted me to show her on the ballot which candidate was “better for the Jews”(of course, I didn’t answer the question).  We cheered for the 18 year olds and the 80 year old new citizens who were voting for the first time.   We rushed to the aid of our fellow coworker who was almost bitten by the growling dog brought into the precinct.  We held the babies as their parents voted.

We stopped, dumbstruck , tears in our eyes,  at about 8:30 p.m. when one of us was texted (obviously the youngest and most tech savvy of us) that it was over and Obama had won.  We hugged each other at the end of this momentous day at this magical moment in time. This is democracy.  Regardless, of party affiliation, we knew that the world had suddenly shifted and nothing would ever be the same, both in our own vision and in the eyes of the world that look to us.

At the end of the day, we looked at each other with a bond that was different from any other kind of relationship.  We were a part of it.  We were involved.  Yes, we knew the outcome of the election before our voters even finished voting.  Did that mean that what we did was unnecessary?  Absolutely not!  We were proud to be in the thick of our participatory democracy.  We were citizens who made a meaningful contribution, who made a difference.

There were 540 voters who came to our precinct.  There were 17 voters who made it a point to thank us for being there and for what we were doing. We were overwhelmed by the handshake of the elderly Russian gentleman who handed us his ballot and firmly announced to the room, “God Bless America!”

When asked if I will work at the next election, I knew that it would be my honor. The group with whom I worked represented many diverse groups in our society. There was a smart and focused high school student of 16 who would receive community service credit, the eldest gentleman of the group who had been smoothly and efficiently helping this precinct for so many years, the charming young man who drives an ambulance as he waits for his medical school acceptance, the lovely Inspector and her daughter who so ably guided us through our duties and responsibilities, and a woman who has long lived in this area, worked in this precinct, and knew so many of these voters.

This cadre included citizens who were immigrants from various countries and those whose ancestors had been US citizens for generations. I don’t know if I will see these coworkers again, but our time together was precious and will never be forgotten. I sincerely encourage everyone to take advantage of this opportunity to be a part of our democratic process.

As the daughter of a child of Rumania who escaped to Philadelphia via Ellis Island in 1924, I am unabashedly grateful to be a part of this still imperfect, continually striving, occasionally stumbling,  so  often succeeding, dazzling country.  My vision is blurred by the tears that come from the joyful recognition of the beauty of this country and what it symbolizes.

As our President-Elect Obama said, “Our stories our singular, but our destiny is shared.”

It seems that no matter how many times you recreate civil war battles, they always end the same, removing any sense of the actual drama of the civil war.  The same can be said about California Congressional elections.

Regardless of how often many congressional races were referred to as “hotly contested”, California voters were treated to another round of “Incumbent Idol” where whatever exciting races may be advertised, an Incumbent will surely win.

It’s hard to imagine that a state with 53 congressional races, there would be no upset, no surprise, no WOW.  The only surprise was how close some of the races were compared to previous elections.  Obama may have helped some Democratic contenders shorten the distance, but Prop 8 and Prop 4 likely capped the damage by getting otherwise-depressed conservative voters to turn out.

While Democratic Senators Di-Fi and Bar-Box may have just increased their power by a large margin in the Senate due to seniority and a new democratic President who will feel their pain on infrastructure, environmental issues and green jobs, only a few members of the California Congressional Delegation can say the same.

Among those few are Speaker Pelosi and Henry Waxman.  Waxman is attempting a semi-coup of the uber-powerful House Committee on Energy and Commerce chairmanship over current chair, Rep. John Dingell of Michigan. Personally, I liked Waxman as Chair of the Oversight committee, but this is a power play to have some say over policy shaping, rather than policy protection.

The other big winner in this election is Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D) who is looking to Washington for green tech initiatives for her Silicon Valley District in San Jose.

Among the rare close house races this year, is in San Diego county where Brian Bilbray (R) beat challenger Nick Leibham (D) by less than 5 percent, scaled back from a much larger 10% victory in 2006. This was Randy “Duke” Cunningham’s seat.

In the O.C., Rep. Rohrabacher won re-election, but had to do it with some 54,000 less votes than 2004. In perhaps the only truly exciting contest, an open seat out of CA04, Tom McClintock (R) is a mere several hundred votes ahead of challenger Charlie Brown (D).  This was a contest that Dems poured a lot of resources into because the seat was vacated by Republican John Doolittle, who retired in the aftermath of, yes, a lobbying scandal. We may have to wait the weekend out on that one.

In the end, our congressional election will not move California into the future, but keep us right here in the present, where parents can hand congressional seats to their kids (check out Rep.-Elect Duncan D. Hunter, son of Rep Duncan L. Hunter who gave up his seat in the 52nd District to run for President) and spend time vacationing in Hawaii rather than campaign.

But doe sent’ Prop. 11 give us hope for the future?  Nope.  Prop 11 allows redistricting to occur on the state level, and doesn’t include Congressional boundaries.  As reported in the San Jose Mercury News:“House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic colleagues threatened a large-scale campaign to kill it if congressional redistricting were thrown in.”  Thus ensuring that we see this same sordid affair play out over and over again.  But hey, the Dems control more than just a simple majority of California congressional seats, so why would they rock the boat?

I have a new slogan for all incumbent congressional candidates I think may work well.  You may have heard it before… “What, me worry?”

Here’s why:

The L.A. Times reports that 55% of children’s hospital payments are through Medi-Cal (public assistance). Medi-Cal pays so little that the hospitals’ fund raising efforts are used to offset treatment costs. There is nothing left in their budgets for construction or upgrades. Also construction costs have skyrocketed in the past few years, the RAND Corporation reports that a fully equipped hospital now costs $1,000/square foot. With California’s population exploding and with more and more kids needing treatment, there’s no way the hospitals can keep up.

If we had a functioning health insurance system, we may not need to fund things like Prop. 3. Hospitals wouldn’t be required to front so much of the treatment costs and could finance their own facilities. Hopefully this will change, but until then we have to foot the bill, budget crisis or not. Half of the patients are on Medi-Cal, we have a responsibility to make sure the facilities are safe and state-of-the-art.

The Johnny California Editorial Board Recommends a YES vote on Proposition 3.

Read all about it at HuffPo