BETHLEHEM, Pa. (WLVT) - Tuesday night, poll workers wheeled in bags of ballots to the Northampton County Government Center in Easton. The county's 154th precinct was fully staffed with around 900 poll workers on a day where voters flocked to the polls.
"We opened at 7, and the rush did not stop for five hours," said Santiago Rivera of Bethlehem.
"I was like, 'Oh, my God. They're coming out of the woodworks,'" added his wife Margarita Gonzalez-Rivera.
The two have been poll workers in Bethlehem's SouthSide for at least a decade, spending the last few years stationed at Donegan Elementary School.
"We had the biggest turnout that I've ever seen in the 10, 12 years that I've been doing this," Rivera said.
"You have to bathe yourself in patience," Gonzalez-Rivera added, "because you will get people that are lacking the patience that are in a rush."
With the pandemic keeping older poll workers at home, first-timers like Bethlehem resident Sue Kiefner stepped up to help. The Democrat was stationed at a polling location in Hellertown.
"When I heard that there was going to be a shortage of poll workers, I was thinking about the elderly in the community that I usually see sitting there," she said. "I thought if they don't want to be there, then I need to be there."
Poll workers said there were no major issues with masks and social distancing. The county also provided plexiglass as an added barrier.
"I thought it was excellent. It worked out perfectly," Rivera said. "My workers felt very comfortable."
Precincts included poll workers on both sides of the aisle, finding common ground in serving their community.
"We were very cordial to one another there. It wasn't like we were enemies," Kiefner said. "We're just two different people that believe two different things, and we worked together the whole time. So, that was really cool.”
"Sometimes, what happens is among the members of these teams, these community members, they do it as a sense of responsibility," Rivera said. "You don't do it for the money."
The Riveras said they each earned $200 for the day, which turned into an 18-hour shift.
"It's a very hard job, and it can be very stressful. It's not for everybody," Rivera said.
Despite the stress, poll workers said they’d do it again, inspired by the turnout this year.
"If you don't go out there. You're not going to be heard," Gonzalez-Rivera said. "Do it! Not just for yourself, but your children, your community."
"If you love your country, and you love the way we do things in the United States, just going and being a part of the process is an amazing experience," Kiefner said.