Poll workers prepare for large turnout, voters’ short tempers

CHESAPEAKE

Frank Scarborough paused briefly before touching the screen to vote for Franklin D. Roosevelt and Ezra Pound.

But he reconsidered.

Maybe John F. Kennedy and Ernest Hemingway would make a better president and poet laureate.

Then, he went back and erased his choices.

"As you can see, the machine will tell you, 'Hey, dum-dum. You didn't vote for anybody,' " Scarborough told the people gathered around him. "You're about to cast a blank ballot. Do you really want to do that?"

Using a Diebold voting machine training program featuring real and fictional offices, Scarborough and other instructors taught a group of

election-officer trainees what they'll need to know on Nov. 4.

The session earlier this week in a Chesapeake library conference room is one of many that will be held around the state to help poll workers brace for what is expected to be a unprecedented turnout.

Election officers are the folks who look up your name, direct you to an open machine, issue and collect your voter card and hand you an "I Voted" sticker.

The officers get paid a total of about $100 for their training and for their work on Election Day.

"Our job is make sure things run smoothly and fairly, and to make sure everyone gets to exercise their right to vote, because that's what makes this nation great," Scarborough told the group.

"You have to be there at 5 a.m. and stay all day, probably 9 p.m. or later. But you're going to be a part of history, and we thank you very much for wanting to do this job."

This general training session lasted about two hours and included setting up the polling place, turning the machines on and off, dealing with angry voters and other topics. Other sessions deal specifically with particular Election Day jobs, including entrance and exit officers and machine officers.

The potential poll workers were an almost-even mix of race, gender and age. A majority of hands went up when Scarborough asked who was doing this for the first time.

Christine Register ("as in register to vote," she said) is a 30-year-old Western Branch resident. It was civic pride that moved her to get involved, she said.

Connie Jones, 52, who works at NASA, was another first-timer taking the training.

"The reason that I decided to participate in this election is because it's such a historic election - we have a black individual running for president and a woman running for vice president," Jones said. "I just wanted to be part of it."

Despite the high interest, Chesapeake electoral board Chairman Al Spradlin, who attended the training, said it's been difficult to recruit enough poll workers. Reasons include the misconception that poll workers don't get paid and fear of dealing with long lines and short tempers that come with high voter turnout, he said.

"This is a different election," Spradlin said. "There are a lot of emotions involved, and we anticipate there are going to be problems."

That's why psychology is part of the poll-worker training.

"You have gasoline in one hand and water in the other," said Keith Heyward, a Chesapeake chief election officer. "When a situation comes up, which do you want to use?

"People are going to be irritated, and they're going to irritated with you. You have to be loving all day."

Jim Washington, (757) 446-2536, jim.washington@pilotonline.com