Senior Spotlight: Election judges focus on serving with kindness, humility

Apr. 1—Tim McGraw's song "Humble and Kind" has become a theme song for Jasper County election workers, who often play it as they receive training.

Beyond knowing how to operate the ballot machinery and check-in tablets, they say these values are important for helping people feel comfortable exercising their right to vote.

"What's become the unfortunate truth about politics in our country is that it's very divisive today," said Charlie Davis, Jasper County clerk. "That's a sad state of our country because people should have a voice for who to choose, and do it without all of the anger and divisiveness. We need to be humble and kind so that anybody who comes in has a great voting experience."

Teri Neil and Jim Jackson are two seniors who said the advice to be humble and kind has stuck with them when they work as election judges.

Teri Neil

This is Neil's ninth year working as an election judge. She worked with the Division of Family Services for 32 years and also served as city clerk in Fidelity for 11 years.

Previous Jasper County Clerk Marilyn Baugh recruited Neil to work at the polls. She first started at Carthage Municipal Hall and has worked at First Christian Church in Carthage for the last seven years.

"I think everybody should be involved," Neil said. "It's an important part of our rights and responsibilities. I'll be honest, before I was a poll worker, I limited myself to when I was going to vote. As a poll worker, you have a different understanding of how important voting is and how it operates. I'm pleased to see the same people come in every time, because they understand it."

As a supervisory judge, Neil takes ballots to the courthouse at the end of the night. At her precinct, everyone shares responsibilities on election day, so no one is doing one thing all day long. It gives each person the experience to do every task.

On an election day, Neil gets up at 3:30 a.m. to be at the polling place by 5 a.m. for set up. Getting to catch up with her regular voters makes the long day worthwhile, though. She remembers one man who used to bring the workers doughnuts. Before he died, he told his daughter that bringing the doughnuts was one of his jobs. Next election, his daughter brought doughnuts to the workers.

Neil said they see the same people all of the time. While she sometimes can't remember names, she always recognizes faces. They carry on chitchat, hear about each other's travels or if they've been sick. Those exchanges make being an election worker a good responsibility for retired seniors, she said.

"For an elderly person, if we don't get out much, that's a really important thing for us to interact with other people," Neil said. "I think most of the elderly people I've talked to say that interaction is an important part of working."

Davis said a vast majority of the people who work the polls are senior citizens and have done it for many years. He remembers an individual who has served for over 46 years. The job is not labor-intensive, but it can make for a long day. Election workers are a vital part of our democracy, he said.

"One of the only constitutional rights we have that everybody can be involved in is the election process," Davis said. "The election process cannot happen if it wasn't for the millions of people that work at polling locations across the globe, especially in Jasper County where we have over 200 people every election work the polls to make sure everybody has a voice. To me, that's why this is so crucial, people have a voice only because of these people who are working at the polls."

Jim Jackson

Election judge Jim Jackson has lived in Joplin since 1976. The retired Missouri Southern State University biology professor has worked in the position for just a few years.

When Jackson visited his polling place in Joplin, it struck him that the people were gracious and accommodating. Working at a polling place would be a good way to be patriotic, he thought.

"When I was thinking about it, a guy my age doesn't get a chance to do anything that is particularly patriotic except maybe assist with voting and paying taxes," Jackson said. "I asked the ladies at my polling place, 'How do you do this?' They told me to call Charlie Davis. I didn't quite know what to expect, but I couldn't be more pleased with the process."

Jackson said that at his first election, he felt like a stranger in a strange land but that luckily, he was with a gracious group of people who welcomed him. He currently works as a floater, working at whatever polling place needs help. For him, the rewarding part is working at a new location with new people.

He also thinks the job is good for seniors; they have not only the time to do it but also the life experience.

"I think seniors might have had a mellowing of their political mindsets through the years," Jackson said. "They might be more open to multiple viewpoints, or at least environments where there might be people of different strategies. You don't really have a problem in understanding there's a lot of different viewpoints out there."

Both Neil and Jackson said how Davis' training has helped them, especially how he emphasizes being humble and kind. For Neil, it's a huge asset for the workers to make sure things go well.

"One thing I learned working in family services is that when people walk in, you never know what kinds of experiences they've had," Neil said. "You never know what they're dealing with when they walk through that door, so you need to be humble and kind so they feel comfortable. If they are having a bad day, maybe that smile or that kindness will turn their day around."

For Jackson, being humble means not spouting opinions. Election workers are there as an appendage of democracy. The kindness part of the training provides a way of helping others.

"That means welcome everybody, as if we set up entirely for that person to come in," Jackson said. "Also, keep an eye on people and be ready to help them if they're confused about things like putting the ballot in the machine."