Citizens across the country worry about America. Voters wonder if their vote counts. In my admittedly limited time as a poll worker, I believe that it does.
By Mark D. Harris
“Stop the Steal” was a common phrase used by conservatives in the aftermath of the 2020 Presidential Election. Official counts indicated that former Vice President and long-time senator Joe Biden had prevailed over incumbent President Donald Trump. Trump, however, refused to concede the election. His followers peacefully protested, but a few rioted, at the Capitol in Washington DC on 6 January, although claims that this was a coup are overblown.
The election occurred during the greatest pandemic since 1918, COVID-19. As a result, mail-in ballots and non-traditional voting skyrocketed. Safeguards like correcting voter rolls (eliminating ineligible people) and requiring official photo identification were neglected or even opposed. Election laws written for another time were incapable of coping with modern technologies and a global pandemic. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg poured $419 million of his private fortune into mail-in, get-out-the-vote (GOTV), and shadier efforts for the Democratic Party in 2020.[1] Other deep-pocketed influencers did the same. Their money gave the Democrats a huge advantage in the gray zones of elections where laws are opaque and lawyers lurk. Small-time voter fraud occurred, but whether it was widespread enough to change the election is doubtful. We will probably never know for sure.
Concerned about the past and wanting to improve things in the future, I chose to serve as a poll worker in Raleigh County, West Virginia on 5 November 2024. I wanted to see firsthand how my corner of the system worked. To put the bottom line up front, I was encouraged by what I saw.
Pre-Election
My poll worker training lasted about two hours on 22 October. Each worker received a spiral-bound book entitled Raleigh County Election Day Procedures. The group went through it. I was a rookie, but most of the other poll workers were veterans. Most of the training was useful, some was dull, and some was questionable. The slides covering how to work the machines were very helpful. As an example of questionable rules, the Raleigh County Commission stated that:
“No poll worker and/or voter shall have newspapers, magazines, radios, cell phones, campaigning material, signs, pens, hats, stickers, etc. that have any political campaign slogans or representation of any political party or candidate, past or present. The poll worker and/or voter will have to remove the item or cover it to remain in the precinct.” (20 Feb 2024)
Poll workers are paid by the County, and so as the employer, the Raleigh County Commission has the right to limit poll workers’ activities. However, voting is a right and a responsibility. Voters are not employed by the county and are not subject to these free speech limitations. If this ruling by the Raleigh County Commission was challenged in court, I do not know how it could be successfully defended.
My family and I voted early at the Raleigh County Courthouse. The line was longer than I expected but not excessive. No one was campaigning outside, and I did not see any “toughs” around who looked like they wanted to scare potential voters away. The system was efficient, and the workers were pleasant. They could, however, have had more and better marked parking for early voters.
Election Day
I was working as a poll commissioner in Precinct 22 at the Mount Tabor Baptist Church. All poll workers had to arrive by 0530 to prepare for voting, which began at 0630. I went in at 0525, met the team, and we took the oath of office. Our group had one independent, two Republicans, and three Democrats. The first three were white and the last three were black. Soon after swearing in, we had to prepare the site.
Supplies on the poll clerk’s table
- Absentee and early voter list
- Poll book
- Voter identity affidavits
- Blank ballots
- Assisted voters form and envelope
- Provisional ballot tracking forms and envelopes
- ExpressVote blank ballots
- Spoiled ballot envelope
Placement of polling place signs – indoors in a place visible to waiting voters
- Sample ballots
- Official list of write-in candidates
- Provisional ballot information
- Voter’s rights
- Instructions to voters
- No electronic devices
- Welcome Voters! Must have identification ready
- Maintain proper social distancing sign
Placement of polling place signs – outdoor
- Polling place sign (mark precinct number on blank line)
- American flags
- Sample ballots
- Official list of write-in candidates
- Know your voting rights
- Instructions to voters poster
- No electioneering sign (100 feet away from door)
- Handicapped parking signs
One of my Democratic associates and I stretched the string provided from the front door of the polling place to the 100-foot limit. We set up the ExpressVote and the DS 200 machines and taped the power cords to the floor to avoid tripping. We had a bit of trouble with a machine, so we called the election day support team at Raleigh County for assistance. Soon it was all working.
Voters had been waiting outside in their cars since 0600 when we opened at 0630 so we instantly had a line. The polling place worked well together. Different parties and different races didn’t seem to matter. Everyone on our team claimed to follow Jesus Christ, a point of unity that transcends division. The other members of the team had worked together for years so they knew what to do and were willing to train me.
The team usually gets around 250 voters in a day but on election day 2024, we had nearly 400. The line ended only once between 0630 and 1930 when we closed. At times the line of waiting voters reached across the room, around the corner, and up the stairs. Voters and poll workers stayed respectful and even pleasant. Many voters and poll workers knew each other but didn’t talk politics.
Our process, from a narrow poll commissioner’s point of view, was simple:
- Voter signs in with ID at the front table.
- Poll clerk checks eligibility and prepares paperwork.
- The poll commissioner takes voter, ballot, and poll book slip to voting machines.
- The voter is educated on the voting machine.
- The poll commissioner leaves the booth, in order to actively avoid watching how the person votes. He or she stays in the area, however, to answer questions.
- The poll commissioner walks the voter to the last step and gives him or her an “I voted” sticker.
I enjoyed my coworkers and our customers, the voters. One elderly woman in a wheelchair asked for help voting. I called one of my Democrat colleagues and we walked her through how to use the machine but not who to vote for. One man specifically asked who to vote for but we left him to figure that out. Several voters had children in tow and we let the kids feed the ballot into the machine under the watchful eyes and with the approval of the voter. Raleigh County had a team of two people traveling from polling site to polling site to ensure everything was going according to law, regulation, and design. It was, at least at Precinct 22.
The one area where I noticed the need for improvement was informing voters of their polling place location. Several voters said that ours was their third polling place since they had been sent away from two others. One lady had been rejected from two polling places, and when we said that ours’ wasn’t right either, she got mad and went home without voting at all. Confusion blocked more voting than fraud did. One voter walked in with a MAGA hat and one of the democrat poll workers asked him to doff it. Whether justified in wearing the hat or not, the voter respectfully complied.
Closing Up
By 1930, the crowds were gone and no one else was waiting. We closed the polls and began to take down the polling place. The church pastor had helped us all day and was equally helpful at night. We turned off and stowed the machines, put the right papers in the right envelopes, placed the right gear in the right boxes, and locked up what we needed to. We were done shortly after 2000. Everyone was tired from a long but fruitful day. The polling place team had developed a genuine affection despite differences. The regulars on the team asked me to come back to join them again two years from now.
Conclusion
I had only a worm’s eye view of the election system in a small city in West Virginia. Yet, it gave me confidence in our state’s and our nation’s elections. The procedures were clear. The poll workers were competent and fair. The machines worked. The voters were respectful. The American system is not perfect, but it is the best that I have ever seen. My vote is recorded properly, and it counts. Yours is too.
[1] How Mark Zuckerberg helped Dems sway the 2020 election, https://nypost.com/2021/10/13/how-mark-zuckerberg-helped-dems-sway-the-2020-election/.
