Primaries from the perspective of a Poll Worker

by Jahari Henry

Staff Writer

The following story was written by a student on the staff of The Jaguar Times as part of Hilliard Bradley High School’s Journalism Production course.

Governor Mike Dewine and Ohio First Lady Fran Dewine cast their vote in Cedarville, Ohio. Courtesy Pual Vernon/ AP PHOTO.

On May 3rd, 2022 Ohio held its spring primaries for the fall elections. On voters ballots there were Democratic and Republican primaries for statewide positions such as U.S Senator and Governor. “Primaries also took place for county and local elections such as County Auditor, County Commissioner, and Court of Common Pleas. There were Primaries held for the 3rd and 15th United States Congressional districts as well.”

While any election is important, this primary was incredibly exciting for me personally because of two reasons. It will be the first election that I am legally allowed to vote in and I will be volunteering as a poll worker for this year's primaries.

Volunteer poll workers are an overlooked and underappreciated cornerstone of our democratic processes in this country. They are almost always volunteers and the financial reward is minimal for the amount of work that is put into ensuring that the voting process is smooth, effective, and secure. My experience as a first time poll worker was eye-opening and hopefully inspires others to serve their country in this simple but devastatingly important function of our society.

“I was asked to come at 6:00pm the night before to help set up for the big day. I was assigned to the Hoffman Trails Elementary School precinct and spent the first thirty minutes setting up voting machines and meeting the other volunteers.” Election day started at 5:30am when we reported to the polling station to do any other work that wasn't accomplished the night before. At 6:30am we opened the elementary doors to the first voters and the day had officially started.

Turnout was steady for the majority of the day. Not necessarily the lines of people who came out to vote in 2020 but enough people to keep all the poll workers busy. It was interesting to see neighbors, classmates, and even teachers at Bradley coming to vote and perform a civic duty. I especially enjoyed one man telling me that he had been voting since 1972 and that this was his 50th anniversary of voting. To which I responded with ‘Well sir this is my first time voting.”

Participating as a poll worker was definitely laborious and exhausting but at the end of the day every person I was assigned to work with including myself left satisfied that we did our civic duty.

If you are at all interested in becoming a poll worker for the State Representative and State Senate Primary in August or the General Election in November access the link below.

https://vote.franklincountyohio.gov/poll-worker/