“When I started at the board we had the lever machines,” Helen Walsh says.

Better known as Pinkie, Walsh has been working elections for more than four decades. She was once Onondaga County’s elections commissioner, now she serves as an inspector, running the show at polling locations.

“We’re ready. Everyone’s here doing their thing. They all have their own assignments,” Walsh says, 30 minutes before early voting begins. “We’ll rotate them through different tasks today so they aren’t stuck doing the same thing all day. They’ll be handing out ballots from here, some will be logging in voters, some will be directing traffic out in the parking lot; somebody else will be in the PPE station.”

Another job is cleaning the voting booths after each and every use. Working the spray bottle at the moment is Megan Kiggans. She is Pinkie’s niece, and it turns out a dedication to civics runs in the family.

“It’s like your job," Kiggans says. "Your duty as a civilian to help out; so why not? I enjoy it, I enjoy helping people. I want everyone to vote.”

Voting days are stressful and hectic, so having a good crew to rely on is something Pinkie says makes all the difference. She says the crews get close during voting days, to a point where they can talk about anything.

Well... almost anything.

“Even religion is safe," Walsh says with a smile. "Just not politics.”