When polling lines start to lengthen and frustrations start to mount, it’s Blu’s job to keep voters happy.

A freelance photographer and Line Manager for the Obama campaign, Blu is responsible for keeping voters at Steinberg-Dietrich organized, relaxed and motivated as they wait to cast their ballots. The most important part is keeping them comfortable and entertained, said Blu, who spoke from her own perspective and not on behalf of the campaign.

To do that, she offers water, cookies and conversations. She also provides pamphlets that explain how to work the polls so voters can orient themselves as they wait.

Blu said the station is running “nice, even and steady” and the lines have been “very reasonable.” Because students come in waves throughout the day, the congestion pattern at this station differs from those catering to the nine-to-five crowd. Blu estimated that voters there had to wait half an hour at most. And around 3:30—when President Amy Gutmann stopped by to cast her vote—there was no line at all.

The best part of a station with these types of lulls, Blu said, is the ease of having one-on-one conversations. She was able to have “meaningful correspondence with every single person” who passed through. To keep voters excited, she emphasizes the importance of what they’re doing and reminds them of the honor of being able to vote. Overall, people have been “extremely positive” and shown “tons of enthusiasm,” she said.

The highlight of her day was watching a young man so ecstatic for the opportunity to take part in this election that he skipped out of the voting booth and performed a “Gene-Kelly-singing-in-the-rain style” dance as he leapt high in the air and yelped for joy.

Blu even took a photograph. “It was such a beautiful moment,” she said. “I’ll always cherish that.”

So why did she decide to travel from New York City to hang out in Steiny-D for nearly 12 hours? For the future. Blu said she wants to help create a world that she feels good about bringing children into. She’s also inspired by the Native American concept of “seven generations,” which says people should contemplate how what they do in the present will impact future generations.

Blu recalled a trip to Europe, where friends assumed she was from Amsterdam or Belgium. Though she was flattered they associated her with exciting European cities, she was also sad that she took comfort in them thinking she wasn’t an American.

“The next time I cross the Atlantic,” she said, “I want to be proud to say I’m American. I want that to stand for something I believe in.”

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Election 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.