November 2, 2020 at 10:39 a.m.
Volunteers step up to work the polls
Volunteers step up to work the polls
Nancy Watry and Mary Dahl were among the volunteers gathered at the town hall for the testing of the Sequoia Insight Tabulating Equipment reader and the AVG Edge touchscreen voting machines.
The women did not know each other before meeting Friday, but they had one thing in common, a desire to give back to their community.
"Being a poll worker was something I was always interested in, but I figured I probably didn't have time to do it until I was retired," Watry explained. "I retired in 2019, and I'm adding this to my community contribution."
Dahl said she sees being a poll worker as a way to help protect the election process.
"I heard the comments as far as there might be concerns about the integrity of the elections," she explained. "My thought was to really try to be a part of making sure our elections are fair and impartial. And I have to say I'm impressed with everything I'm seeing being done, the training that I had. It gives me a lot of confidence that our voting procedures and policies are very good and safe."
Gauthier said both Watry and Dahl contacted her about volunteering at the polls.
"They reached out to me, and I had probably 7 more people that reached out to me," Gauthier said.
She noted the State Election Commission did a promotional push for poll workers "when they saw there might be a shortage due to the COVID situation."
"I think people heard in the media that there is a need, so people started to reach out to me," Gauthier said. "Thankfully, I had back up people, just in case I needed them."
She said getting poll workers for the northern polling station in St. Germain has remained a challenge.
"I lost some poll workers up there because of the pandemic and they weren't willing to put their health at risk," Gauthier said. "That's where I usually have my biggest challenge is getting people to work up there."
"But I'm all set now, I have backup people and we're ready," she added.
Watry and Dahl said they weren't concerned about contracting COVID-19 as poll workers.
"I feel as long as we're masking and keeping our social distancing, I'm sure we can do this safely," Dahl said.
Gauthier said the touchscreen polling stations will be sanitized between voter uses.
Jamie Taylor may be reached via email at [email protected].
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