What are the red dots?

Berny Stone had not yet become the 50th Ward Alderman. He was merely a District Leader for the Machine, the guy in charge of checking on a bunch of precincts on Election Day and reporting back to his organization.

There were lots of poll watchers for Independent-backed candidates in political campaigns but they usually only volunteered to help for a few hours at a time. They didn’t know each other and had no way of recognizing each other when they arrived at the polling place.

So, in one campaign, we gave them all red, stick-on dots to wear so they would know whom to approach and who to report to.

The red dots bothered Stone. He asked me what they were. I told him it was a secret.