Once a year, Eva Welch works twice as long as most people half her age. The 74-year-old poll inspector for the 87th election district arrived at her voting station in Wien at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesday, and stayed until it closed at 9 p.m. Despite the 15-and-a-half-hour day, Welch was surprisingly relaxed—as of 2:30 p.m., only three voters had come to her table.

“This year feels like a break,” she explained. “We don’t really have any competition [in the election], so no one comes out.”

This years’ general election has indeed shaped up to be one of the least exciting, even more so than other “off-year” elections. Past years have seen local races for state legislature and even civil service positions heat up.

But none of that has been evident this year. With the exception of one city council race in Brooklyn, the city’s election districts only have contests for the judiciary positions. Furthermore, almost all of the civil court justice races are uncontested, as are all of the district attorneys’ races except the one in Staten Island, lending credence to those observers who noted partisan campaign machines have become stand-ins for the local political traditions of bandwagoning and baby-kissing.

In Morningside Heights, polling sites at Riverside Church, the Forest Chambers building on 113th Street, and Wien Hall remained quiet. “Practically nobody has come,” said Rhonda, who was manning the polls at Riverside Church. George, at Forest Chambers, agreed. “You can definitely tell it’s an off year,” he said.

Many poll inspectors are seasoned veterans of the electoral process. Sitting at their station in Wien, Maria Domenech and Jimmy LeGrande reminisced about their earlier days at the polls. “I’ve been doing this since Kennedy,” Domenech said. “I just like to see the people.”

“I started because I wanted a day off from work,” LeGrande said. “Not that this is really a day off, but it gets me out of the office.”

Welch has been working the polls for 53 years, since she was 21. “When I was a young wife and mother, working the polls gave me a little extra cash,” she said. “It used to be $10 for the day. Now it’s $200.” But the monetary compensation is not the most important part, she says. “I enjoy being part of the process,” she said, “its very interesting.”

Overall, an interest in the voting process itself seems to be what keeps poll inspectors at their jobs, even if voters are few and far between. Said Ramsey at Forest Chambers, “If you’re not part of the process, you can’t squawk about it when things don’t go your way.”

Zack Hoopes can be reached at Zack.Hoopes@columbiaspectator.com.