independence
Regular Member
Whelp, I was scheduled to configure the voting machines for my county here in the sticks and things suddenly went sour.
I hadn't had time to tell this until now, but here's what happened...
A few months ago I met with the Election Commission Chairmain at the courthouse while OCing. (Completely legal, as I did not enter a courtroom during a judicial proceeding.) The Chairman and I met about me configuring the voting machines for the election and it went well. He asked me to send him a quote. Later, I sent him a quote and he accepted it. At some point around the time he accepted it (can't remember exactly when), I went to his house on separate business and he brought up the subject of open carry. He said it would be fine for me to open carry while at the courthouse when I configured the machines but that the Commission had decided that they would not be able to allow me to open carry on Election Day while providing on call support for any machines that break. They didn't want me to walk into a polling place to troubleshoot while open carrying and "scare people". He was very explicit about the fact that he didn't mind one bit if I *concealed* on Election Day, but that I could not open carry. He said that he is a gun owner himself but conceals.
Now keep in mind, some (but not all) of the polling places would have been schools anway, where it isn't legal to carry. I very reluctantly agreed to his arrangement while gritting my teeth. Later on, I wrote him an email stating that I would honor our agreement with one caveat: I was going to be open carrying when I went to the polls to cast my own vote. (See my separate post in the TN forum where I did vote OCing!) He never responded to that email.
Then I didn't hear from him for a while and it was getting close to early voting. He was supposed to be contacting me to setup a time to work on the machines but he had not. About a week or two before early elections were due to start, he called me. He said that he was sorry it was last minute but he needed me right away to setup the machines. I said that was not a problem but did he get my email about me open carrying when casting my vote. He said that he did and that would be fine...BUT...that the Commission had decided not to let me open carry at all when configuring the machines -- not even while at the courthouse configuring the machines prior to the elections. The only time I could open carry is while voting.
I told him this was a bit unexpected since we had made an agreement on this already that seemed like a good compromise and benefitted both parties. He said that he was sorry but the Commission had changed its mind. I told him I would check my schedule and think about this new development. I told him I would be back in contact.
I thought about it for a day and decided that they had already agreed to a compromise and that a deal's a deal. Why change it on me at the last second? I decided this was not cool and I was not willing to do it under these circumstances.
So, I wrote him a very cordial email that explained I would not be doing the machine configuration since the Commission had not honored our previous agreement which I thought was a good compromise. I was polite and even gave him a recommendation of someone I know who could do it who does not open carry. He sent a brief reply and said something like that he was sorry it didn't work out but that it was what it was.
I lost some significant money by turning down this opportunity. Oh well. The silliest thing of all is that he said it would scare people but then said it was okay for me to OC while casting my vote. Why does one supposedly scare people and not the other? And I did in fact OC while casting my vote, as mentioned in my other post, btw. And there wasn't any blood in the streets or mothers running away with children because of it. But I lost the voting machine gig.
I hadn't had time to tell this until now, but here's what happened...
A few months ago I met with the Election Commission Chairmain at the courthouse while OCing. (Completely legal, as I did not enter a courtroom during a judicial proceeding.) The Chairman and I met about me configuring the voting machines for the election and it went well. He asked me to send him a quote. Later, I sent him a quote and he accepted it. At some point around the time he accepted it (can't remember exactly when), I went to his house on separate business and he brought up the subject of open carry. He said it would be fine for me to open carry while at the courthouse when I configured the machines but that the Commission had decided that they would not be able to allow me to open carry on Election Day while providing on call support for any machines that break. They didn't want me to walk into a polling place to troubleshoot while open carrying and "scare people". He was very explicit about the fact that he didn't mind one bit if I *concealed* on Election Day, but that I could not open carry. He said that he is a gun owner himself but conceals.
Now keep in mind, some (but not all) of the polling places would have been schools anway, where it isn't legal to carry. I very reluctantly agreed to his arrangement while gritting my teeth. Later on, I wrote him an email stating that I would honor our agreement with one caveat: I was going to be open carrying when I went to the polls to cast my own vote. (See my separate post in the TN forum where I did vote OCing!) He never responded to that email.
Then I didn't hear from him for a while and it was getting close to early voting. He was supposed to be contacting me to setup a time to work on the machines but he had not. About a week or two before early elections were due to start, he called me. He said that he was sorry it was last minute but he needed me right away to setup the machines. I said that was not a problem but did he get my email about me open carrying when casting my vote. He said that he did and that would be fine...BUT...that the Commission had decided not to let me open carry at all when configuring the machines -- not even while at the courthouse configuring the machines prior to the elections. The only time I could open carry is while voting.
I told him this was a bit unexpected since we had made an agreement on this already that seemed like a good compromise and benefitted both parties. He said that he was sorry but the Commission had changed its mind. I told him I would check my schedule and think about this new development. I told him I would be back in contact.
I thought about it for a day and decided that they had already agreed to a compromise and that a deal's a deal. Why change it on me at the last second? I decided this was not cool and I was not willing to do it under these circumstances.
So, I wrote him a very cordial email that explained I would not be doing the machine configuration since the Commission had not honored our previous agreement which I thought was a good compromise. I was polite and even gave him a recommendation of someone I know who could do it who does not open carry. He sent a brief reply and said something like that he was sorry it didn't work out but that it was what it was.
I lost some significant money by turning down this opportunity. Oh well. The silliest thing of all is that he said it would scare people but then said it was okay for me to OC while casting my vote. Why does one supposedly scare people and not the other? And I did in fact OC while casting my vote, as mentioned in my other post, btw. And there wasn't any blood in the streets or mothers running away with children because of it. But I lost the voting machine gig.
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