Democracy…Some Assembly Still Required

John Clark taking you inside an election. On Tuesday, I served as a ballot clerk for the fifth time. While it was an off-year election, voting was steady and the numbers higher than usual, something I believe was true all across the country.

Here in Waterville, as I expect it is in most places of any size, the process of holding an election starts well before the election. Poll workers need to be recruited in sufficient numbers so things go smoothly, a suitable polling place must be secured, workers need to attend a training session, even if they have worked prior elections. Patti Dubois, our city clerk, does a stellar job of preparing for an election. Her slide presentation during training, is easy to follow, covers everything, and is enhanced by her enthusiasm and sense of humor. We are reminded numerous times that in terms of the election, we’re Switzerland, no matter how we might feel about the issues or candidates.

Our municipal elections are held in the gym at Thomas College. Setup happens the night before and involves tables, polling booths, stanchions with plastic chains to guide voters, as well as revising the assignment list to address changes if people can’t cover their shift. Assignments include the following: traffic control (both in the parking lot and foot traffic inside) booth management, overseeing the ballot machines, check-in of voters, ballot distribution, voter registration, absentee ballot counting on the Friday preceding the election, and specialization tasks (answering unanticipated questions, handling changes of address, and name changes). One young voter who came to our table with a COR (change of registration) card changed their name from one that was female to male.

Every election is a learning experience for me. This time my biggest new bit of knowledge was that write-in candidates must announce their candidacy sixty days before the election in order to have their votes counted. This election had few overtly political comments by voters, but I had to keep a neutral face twice when people getting ballots made reference to how next year we’d be asking them for an ID. Voting results when I got up the next morning validated my faith in Mainers when I saw that The voter ID referendum was soundly defeated and the Red Flag one was soundly passed.

Poll workers can work a full shift-twelve hours, or a half shift. I usually do a full one, but was assigned a six hour shift this time. I welcomed voters whose last name began with letters f through j. Each town prints out an updated list provided by the Secretary of State’s office just before the election to ensure it being as accurate as possible. Once the election is over, name and address changes, as well as new voter registrations are sent to the same office so rolls can be updated.

Several times during my shift, one of the workers came around with a new list of absentee voters and we entered AV(already voted) beside their names to ensure accuracy and integrity of the voting process. When voters come through the line, we ask for their name, find it in the list and verify the address. If there are any changes that need to be made, they’re sent to the person designated to fill out a Change of Registration card. Once that is done, they return to us and we make the necessary changes on the master list. Since we had some municipal races and a city referendum, voters were given two ballots. We had three different local ballots to reflect the races, or lack thereof. Ward three and five got different ballots to reflect races for school board and city council. Everyone else got one that had water district trustees and a charter amendment on it.

The charter amendment reflects a reality that more and more small cities in Maine are facing. It asked voters to approve removing the requirement that a city manager reside in Waterville. We’ve been trying to hire a new one for months without success because the kind of candidate we want usually has a home somewhere else and is reluctant to move.

Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and several members of her staff stopped by around closing time to check on how things were going. They thanked us for helping make the election run smoothly.

Greeting voters is something I really enjoy, especially ones who bring their children. I thank each youngster for coming and watching democracy in action. That action was reinforced by a photo my daughter put on Facebook the day after of the election. It was of five year old Gemma, who was adamant she wanted to go to the polls in Poland and ‘vote’ before going to kindergarten.

Once the polls close, we make a big red X on all remaining ballots to ensure integrity, pack everything up, and issue a big sigh of relief at another job well done. In 2026, we’ll have two extremely important elections, the June primary and the general election in November. I can guarantee your town or city will need more poll workers to handle the number of voters we’ll see. If you’re willing, please volunteer to help keep democracy going.

This little lady threw a fit when she heard we were going to vote after dropping her off at school bc she wanted to go vote too. So we went early and voted before school (she has dance until late so we couldn’t do it after school). She didn’t want to wait until next year to vote!