THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 9, 1996 TAG: 9602080169
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY MARY REID BARROW, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines
For several years now, retiring election official Frances Riggs' daughter, Ann Henley, has followed in her mother's footsteps and served as an election official at Sigma Precinct.
Now that Riggs is retiring, Henley will take over as chief election official, continuing the family tradition.
But others are needed, said Voter Registrar Marlene Hager.
Not only are there election officials like Riggs who will opt out of working this year, but there also are new precincts, such as Rosemont Forest Precinct in the Salem area and Culver Precinct in the Ocean Lakes High School area where a full roster of election officials is needed.
The three-member Virginia Beach Electoral Board is meeting this week to re-appoint election officials already on the books, Hager said. J.A.G. Parrish is chairman, retired Navy Capt. James H. Campbell is vice chairman and Mary L. Redd Nelson is secretary.
``Once a year they must go through and choose election officials. They will meet and go through, precinct by precinct, the folks on the election list,'' Hager said. ``They will approve them unless there's been a serious complaint.''
Following the meeting, letters - more than 600 of them - from the Voter Registrar's office will go out to each official. They will be asked to serve again and if they agree, to indicate which of the three elections coming up this year they will work: the May City Council, June Republican Primary and November presidential elections.
Then the voter registrar must recruit new officials to fill the gap. ``The vast majority of our election officials come from people who suggest them, from our current officials,'' Hager said, ``but we are always happy to have others and we are always happy to have students, 18 and older.''
The only prerequisite to becoming an election official is that one be a registered voter in Virginia Beach. They also must be willing to represent either the Republican or Democratic party so there will be equal representation between the parties inside the polls.
``There are some checks and balances and this is one of them,'' Hager explained.
Assistant Voter Registrar Carol Cheney, who is in charge of the nuts and bolts of recruiting and hiring election officials, also oversees their training. Officials, both old and new, must attend a training session to learn such things as how to demonstrate the voting machines and how to handle the poll books. They also must know voter registration rules like the rule that gives a one-year grace period to a person who has moved from one precinct to another before the person must change his or her address to the new precinct.
In addition to the training sessions, election workers must be on the job from before the polls open until after they close on election day. It's not a volunteer job, however. Workers average $70 for an election day plus $15 for each training session.
Each of the 65 precincts in Virginia Beach needs an average of seven to nine poll workers. Cheney estimates she will need 400 to 500 election officials for the two smaller elections this year and 650 people for the presidential election in November because voter turn-out is so high in presidential years.
``Altogether I would be in good shape if I had 750 election officials,'' Cheney said.
So she'd like a couple of hundred new ones and she would love them to all be like Frances Riggs, folks who really enjoy their job.
``They're better with the public and remember everything,'' She said. ``They're good customer service people, good people-people.''
Give Cheney a call at the voter registrar's office, 427-8683, if you are interested. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photos by D. KEVIN ELLIOTT
Assistant Voter Registrar Carol Cheney is in charge of the nuts and
bolts of recruiting, hiring and training election officials.
Assistant Registrar Pat Harrington inspects a plethora of voting
booth machines at the city's voting machine warehouse.
Voter Registrar Marlene Hager shows off the guts of a new
vote-counter. The city has 30 machines and needs 36 more - at a cost
of $6,500 each.
by CNB