I worked the 2024 presidential election for the Associated Press as a vote entry operator. My job for this election as a web scraper was to look through county election sites to find polling results and submit those results into AP’s election database. Before the election, I attended a mandatory 5-hour training session on Zoom practicing data entry.

THE METHOD TO THE MADNESS

For this election, I worked from 5 PM to 5 AM. At the top of every hour of this 12-hour shift, I took note of the most important parts of the election- my caffeine intake, sleep deprivation levels, and even my Christmas shopping progress. Here is a look at one of the most important nights in American history through the words of an average college junior.

15 MINUTES BEFORE LOGGING IN

I’m feeling optimistic about this experience. I feel like they’ll let me go around 2 am. I have an energy drink, coffee, and sugary drinks at my disposal. My plan is to use my downtime before polls close and the work picks up working on assignments for school. Halfway through the night, when I start to get really tired, I will switch my work position from my desk with a monitor to my living room where I can watch the election results. (Spoiler… that didn’t happen).

5 PM

Logged onto the Zoom meeting with AP’s election staff. I learned that my original role was switched around a bit. For this election, I will be working on covering Antrim and Wayne County in Michigan. Still feeling optimistic about the rest of the night.

6 PM

Still on the training portion of the Zoom.

7 PM

Training finished around 6:30. I am just waiting until the polls close at 8 PM to begin my work. A lot of this job is waiting until suddenly all the numbers come in and you are scrambling to enter them all.

8 PM

Waiting for polls to close. Polls close at 8 PM.

9 PM

At this point, I still haven’t gotten results back from the counties I’m in charge of. Working as a VEO is really playing one long waiting game. Since logging in at 5 I’ve completed an assignment for my Spanish class, watched three episodes of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman (a relic of a TV show), started a new book, and have gone down a rabbit hole on Zillow dreaming about a better housing market post-election. Copious amounts of sugar have been consumed. My new game plan is to get all my sugar and caffeine intake done before midnight so I’m not too wired to sleep when I get off for the night. Hopefully, this doesn’t backfire on me and I experience a caffeine crash too early. At this point in the night, AP reported that Kamala had 99 electoral votes and Trump had 120.

10 PM

Finally made it to hour 5. I am currently nursing a watermelon Celsius. I have watched two more episodes of Dr. Quinn since 9 PM. Wayne, MI has begun releasing polling results. I haven’t been able to report them yet due to the precincts not being reported. So I’ve just been waiting. In all honesty, at this point in the night, I’m usually getting ready for bed. The next few hours are going to be the worst. AP is still reporting Trump to be in the lead, but it is way too early to call the race.

11 PM

 I love getting paid to refresh pages. So far I submitted one advanced report. Wayne, MI, released some voting information I was able to submit to our database. I’m still sipping on the same drink. I did move on to movies and Pinterest browsing to cure my boredom. Trump is in the lead at 210 with Harris at 113. Since my work focuses on one state, and even more specifically two counties, it’s weird to look at the big picture of the entire electoral college.

MIDNIGHT

Still on the clock. The election hasn’t been called yet. I submitted another advanced report. So in 7 hours, I have made two submissions. Crazy. I’m no longer drinking anything with caffeine in it. The Celsius is working like a charm and anything else will result in me not sleeping at all. I started and am about to finish a movie in this hour. Based on the current numbers, I believe Trump will win the election. I would be really shocked if Harris got her numbers up enough to beat him.

1 AM

I am ready to go to bed and call it quits. Unfortunately, it does not look like my two counties will be getting their results in anytime soon. I am hoping for a 2 AM release call (another spoiler… does not happen). Right now I am bored out of my mind. A lot of other people are spamming the Slack channel with all of their reports. Not me. I don’t think anyone has been released early yet. Finished the movie I mentioned earlier. Attempted to start another one. Got very distracted and instead started gift shopping for Christmas. Mom, you’re gonna love what I’m getting you.

2 AM

Very few changes in the last hour. I’ve grown more tired and more bored. I had one report update to Wayne, MI. Still waiting on Antrim to post the results. Definitely not getting off at 2.

3 AM

 I was very naive to think I would get off at 2. My counties are still radio silent. At this point, I am losing all hope. I am exhausted. Trump has clearly won. Can’t we go home? I think I’m going to cry if I see the sunrise before I go to bed.

4 AM

Longest night of my life. Still no new updates. I have read 737 pages of my book since starting this election night. I am very ready to go to bed. I will probably get three hours of sleep before having to wake up before class. That’s going to suck. At 4:10 I was told that the reason for the delay with Wayne’s reports was because supposedly the car carrying the ballots crashed.

5 AM

Got off a little after 5. Last-minute advanced reporting for Wayne was sent in right at 5 so I had to stay on longer. I’m so tired. Glad to have been able to help out with this election. Time for three hours of sleep before class. At least my con law class got canceled. Shoutout Dr. Strine!