Wednesday was the day that the union elections were officially done. The ballots were collected from the post office at 6:30 am and brought to the union headquarters where they were opened and counted by the secure election service that is used (ballots are not counted by union members). I was not a part of the group that was there starting at 6:30 am, but I wanted to be a part of the counting like I had for the other 2 elections.
Both elections I had been a part of previously had very different timelines. The first election took until about midnight for us to get answers on who won and the second election was done before I got to the union! I know that there is no way to know what to expect, but I assumed it would be something in between what the timeline was for the past few times.
Because I have taken a bit more of a leadership role within my slate this election, I volunteered to be in the room for the last shift to watch the count. That meant being there starting at 4 pm until it was done. We were hoping it would be done around 6 or 7, and there was a party for the slate that started at 7 that I was going to go immediately to after. So when I was done with work on Wednesday, I went straight to the union, dressed for the party, ready to watch the ballot count. I knew I’d be there for a while, but I was excited to get the results and get to the party even if I was going to be a bit late.
When I got there, things were moving along and we were hoping that maybe the official information would be announced by 8. We knew it would be later than we were hoping for, but we still wanted to be done in time to go to the party. There were people from the other slate in the room as well and they had a party to get to too. Even though the election wasn’t the most positive thing, the people in the room were positive and we were all getting along and just waiting on things to be counted.
Once all the ballots that could be counted by the machines were done, then it was time to work on the hand count ballots. That’s when things were a bit more interesting for me as an observer. Even though the candidates were not allowed to make decisions on the ballots, we could watch the election committee decide what marks on ballots might have been mistakes or if someone overvoted and then that section of the ballot was disqualified. The hand count took a while, but this was important work. Fortunately, most of the hand count ballots were easy to understand the intent of the voter. The voter might have exed out a mistake and the computer just can’t recognize that. But since people can see that means they didn’t want to vote for that person, it was an easy fix.
While this hand count was going on, the party for my slate was happening and people were texting me to get updates. We were not allowed to use our phones in the room, so I had to step out every so often to check my phone and text people back. Time flew by and went slowly at the same time and before I knew it, it was already 11 pm which was the time the party was supposed to end and we still didn’t have the results.
I knew at this point that no matter how late the party went, I wasn’t going to go. I was a little upset about that because I was really looking forward to celebrating with everyone. I had worked so hard during this election and I wanted a fun night with the other candidates. We tried to have as much fun as we could in the room watching the ballot count, but I really felt like I was missing out on something that I had looked forward to for this entire election. It didn’t help that the last 90 minutes seemed to take forever and there were a few random delays that we weren’t sure why they were happening.
But in the end, we did finally get the election results around 1:30 in the morning. First, I did get re-elected as a convention delegate. I was so worried I wouldn’t get it, but I am glad I did and I will be representing LA actors at the convention in October. I did not get elected to the local board, but I knew that was a long shot and I wasn’t expecting to be elected. Of course, I would have loved to have gotten a spot on the local board, but it just wasn’t my turn this year. I was very excited to see that I did do much better in the local board election that I expected and I was much higher ranked on the list than I ever thought I would be.
Overall, our slate did not do as well as we hoped. I’m trying to not take this as hard as I have been, but it does feel like I am a bit at fault for this. I know that everyone is responsible for campaigning, but I did run our social media and I keep wondering if there was more that I could have done. But I also don’t have any regrets with what we did so that does make me feel a bit better.
But to end on a positive note, the 2 biggest officer positions that were a part of this election were president and secretary-treasurer. For the past 2 elections, my slate won president and the other slate won secretary-treasurer. And this year, it was so exciting to be in the room when we got the news even before the candidates heard.
Both Gabrielle Carteris and Camryn Manheim from my slate won! I’m so excited to have them as the leaders of our union. I have gotten to know them through this campaign and I know that they will be incredible leaders. Every time I have heard them speak or have been able to work with them, I have been inspired and I know they will do the same for the membership. I am so glad the members were able to see that they make an amazing team and elected them together.
While this is the end of election season, now we have to start getting ready for the convention. And I will still have my work with my slate doing the social media. But at least it will be a little less intense than it has been recently. This election has been crazy, rewarding, intense, stressful, and so many other emotions; but it also has been something that I don’t regret at all. If anything, it has pushed me to do this again and to work harder the next time.
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