Veteran poll worker continues tradition

By WAYNE QUESENBERRY/Staff

Despite the long hours and short pay, Jean R. Dunford has been a poll worker since 1996. The Fort Chiswell area resident is the chief election officer for the Sheffey Precinct in the Lead Mines District.
“I enjoy the people,” Dunford remarked of her polling place at Sheffey Elementary School. “We see a lot of people we haven’t seen in a long time. We always have a good turnout.”
Her official workday begins at 5 a.m. with a check of the voting machines, paper ballots, poll book and other related materials. She and the three other poll workers at the precinct must be ready to open at 6 a.m.
“The poll book is computerized this year,” Dunford noted, “which is wonderful. All the registered voters in our precinct are listed on a disc, which operates from a laptop computer. All but one of us has computer experience.”
Each voter must present some form of identification at the polling place. The name and address is checked against the official registry.
“We have to make sure the number of votes on the machine match with the polling book and our hand-recorded number,” Dunford pointed out.
According to her, some of the busiest times are soon after the polls open and around 3 p.m. Few voters arrive near closing time at 7 p.m.
Dunford has taken ballots to the vehicles of voters with disabilities. She witnesses their vote, seals it in an official envelope and puts it into a black box inside the polling place.
“Just before the polls close,” Dunford said, “we insert these ballots into the machine. We don’t have many people who vote that way. Most of them vote by absentee ballot.”
The Sheffey Precinct shares the elementary school gymnasium with the Huddle Precinct as polling places.
“The Huddle Precinct is on one side of the gym,” Dunford pointed out, “and we’re on the other. It works really well.”
She anticipated a large voter turnout for Tuesday’s gubernatorial election. The presidential election, Dunford said, also draws heavy voter turnout.
Once the polls close and the votes are tabulated, she is responsible for delivering the ballots and other official documents and supplies to the circuit court clerk.
Her check for election work is often slow in arriving. The amount varies since she is an election official and receives mileage costs and cell phone allowance.
“It take a month or longer,” Dunford commented. “Sometimes it takes so long I forget.”
Her first stint as a polling place worker was at the Fort Chiswell Precinct. She filled in for her mother, Mary Richardson, while she was taking care of her late dad, Ray Richardson Sr.
Dunford noted her mother, a longtime worker at the polling place at Fort Chiswell High School, gave up her job this year when the electronic poll books eliminated positions.
Commenting on her work, Dunford said, “It’s a terribly long day but we’re usually busy. I enjoy it.”
Dunford is a part-time employee at the Old Fort Antique Mall near Fort Chiswell.
Wayne Quesenberry can be reached at 228-6611 or .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).