Rumors are loud this election season. The facts about who runs your polling place are not. Dave Astorina of the Public Square Project gives you the firsthand version.Who's counting the votes? In Pennsylvania, every polling place has a judge of elections and two inspectors, and all three are elected by voters in that precinct. The person who signs you in on Tuesday is most likely someone you voted for, which makes them your neighbor.The safeguards built into each step: machines print a zero-votes report before the doors open, and everyone signs a copy for the official record, Safeguards are the reason for everything:Why provisional ballots need two signatures, the judge and the minority inspector, and why the minority inspector takes a copy of the results home for a yearWho can be in the room, including certified poll watchers from each party and representatives of parties and candidates while mail-in ballots are opened.It's the reason why a slow count is not a broken count, and what happens between the 8 PM close and the result, when the judge personally brings the memory stick to the county.Dave also covers who does this work. More than half of poll workers are 61 or older, and the day runs more than 12 hours. If you want to do something about election noise, you can become a poll worker. Fill out the state's form. Students at 17 can join with parent and principal approval.Essential listening if you want to know how the process works before you cast your vote.