Observations©

By Donald S. Conkey

Date: November 13, 2008 - # 8846 - Title: A tribute to the Cherokee Election Office (830)

Now that this year’s presidential election is over it’s time to pay a tribute to Janet Munda, to her Cherokee election office staff, and to the 45 volunteer poll managers Ms Munda has recruited and trained, along with the hundreds of other volunteers who manned the polls during this hectic and unpredictable election. I also pay tribute to the five member election board that supervises the election office and Ms. Munda and her staff. Included in this tribute are the Board of Commissioners who provide the election office budget and the school custodial staffs where many of the precincts are held, especially the Bascomb staff.

            And not to be left out is Sheriff Garrison and his deputies who were on alert throughout the election process, even escorting Joan and her assistant manager Pam Karski to the election office with the results of the Bascomb precinct – but without their blue lights.

The numbers of complaints were few because Ms. Munda anticipated almost every issue and trained and prepared her staff and poll mangers for the unexpected. Perhaps the only thing she didn’t anticipate were the huge numbers of early voters and the long lines that went with them. But that issue was probably governed by budget and out of her hands. Even our lines here in Cherokee were small compared to those we saw on TV in other Georgia counties. Even those who braved the long lines need to be acknowledged and receive a tribute for being responsible citizens.

I watched as the poll managers were trained from my ring side seat while Joan, my wife, was being trained and prepared to manager her precinct. Joan has been the poll manager at the Bascomb precinct for the last three elections cycles and before that she and I managed the Sutallee precinct for two elections. We were introduced to the Cherokee County election process, and then trained by Linda Parker in the Rose Creek precinct in 1996. The election process has changed greatly in these short 12 years with the number of registered votes doubling here in the county since 1990. 

And how the election office itself has changed during those same few years? It has had to move from the dark ages of paper ballots to the new electronic age of computers that tally the count each time a vote is cast. And that wasn’t easy to do and keep things moving smoothly. But Janet Munda has managed to keep pace with the needed changes while still running a tight shop.

And speaking of paper ballots I have been around long enough to remember the days when my mother and dad were poll managers for Lake Township in Huron County Michigan, back in the thirties and forties. I would often go with them in those days and watch them count, yes count, each ballot. After closing the polls at 7 p.m. they would then have to take out the ballots and count each ballot - for each person running in that election. This process would usually take all night and the results of a giver election in those days would not be known, unlike today, for a day or so.

We heard of attempted election fraud during this election but with the new electronic computers that can access every voter’s name in the state and determine if he or she has voted elsewhere fraud today is more difficult to pull-off. It was widely rumored John F. Kennedy’s father bought the 1960 presidential election for his son in the Chicago area and fraud could still be in vogue where officials are prone to fraud. But fraud was rare in Lake Township long ago because every one knew everyone else and any stranger was looked at closely.

Now let me pay a special tribute to those unsung heroes who get up at 5 a.m. on Election Day to be at the polling place by six in order to have everything up and running by 7 a.m. to let the voters in to vote. In the Bascomb precinct there were ten workers, including the manager and her two assistants, and seven worker bees, including one student assigned by the election office. The student workers are whizzes with the new computers and help the older workers learn how to use them. 

And now that the people have cast their ballots, without incident, we expect we will soon see those ‘changes’ spoken of during the election. But thanks to Janet Munda and those she surrounded herself with we the voters were able to go to the polls here in Cherokee County and vote for our candidate, mostly without incident.     

But it was a long day for the poll workers – and for the managers even a longer day, 17, even 18 hours. So if you know any of those volunteers who worked the polls during this election so you could cast your ballot – say thanks.  They really deserve your appreciation.