Civic Duty: Election judges play essential role

Election judge Paula Craft calls herself “an ambassador for elections and election integrity.” She’s worked for the Lake County Election Office since 2016 in the third-floor conference room that’s transformed into a place called Central Count.

“I just feel this is a great way to give back to the community,” says Ken Murphy, who retired from the Army and moved to Polson in 2017. He’s been an election judge for three cycles and is about to embark on his fourth.

While their roles during the upcoming primary and general elections are very different, each says working on elections has helped reinforce their faith in the system of free and fair elections that’s the most fundamental underpinning of our democracy. 

By working elections for eight years, Craft says, “I've come to understand the process better. Many times, when I see people questioning the process, there's often a good explanation.”

It’s also why having trained judges who adhere to the same rules and processes through each election is crucial.

“It’s not the Murphy technique,” says Ken. “We don't color outside the lines of the box. And that is to give the public faith in the process. It’s all done the same way.”

Murphy fulfills his duties at Linderman Gym, across the street from the Lake County Courthouse, where he’s a provisional election judge.

“We want everybody who walks in the door to be able to vote,” Murphy says, even if their names don’t appear in the voter registration rolls, or they’ve lost or damaged their absentee ballot because “my dog ate it, or I spilled coffee on it.”

It’s his job to help them cast a fresh ballot, which is then placed in provisional ballot box and sent to the election office for voter verification and to make sure that person didn’t already cast a ballot before it gets counted.

In addition to attending a three-hour mandatory training, Murphy helps set up the polling place the day before the election. He then arrives at Linderman at 6 a.m. on Election Day, and won’t typically head home until well after polls close at 8 p.m.

Fortunately for the Polson resident, it’s a short drive to and from work. For poll workers further afield, such as those working at precincts in Arlee or Swan Lake, the drive could add a few more hours to the process.

Mickey Mouse never wins

From her post at Central Count, Craft may put in as many as 24 hours on Election Day, making sure the ballots that arrive from precincts across the county are carefully and accurately tabulated. It’s a long, rigorous and very detail-oriented process.

Central Count is where the pink secrecy envelopes are opened, and ballots are fed into the tabulator.

“It’s a lot of clerical work that we're doing up there,” Craft says. “We're opening those envelopes and actually eyeballing the ballots to make sure there aren't problems or issues with any of the ballots, and then they are put into bins that are set up to run through the counting machines.”

The ones that the tabulator rejects, however, are subject to a different process.

The electronic tabulator may find a ballot indigestible for myriad reasons. “We see the coffee rings they put on their ballots, we see the guilty food things they put on their ballots, torn ballots – all sorts of things that mean that the machine, which is an optical scanner, would have difficulty reading that ballot,” says Craft.

Someone might have marked it with big x’s instead of shading in the ovals; or they may have written in the name of a cartoon character (Mickey Mouse is a favorite) or their neighbor.

When any of those things happen, the ballot goes to a panel of three judges – ideally representing three different political parties – to scrutinize and interpret the voter’s intention. When they arrive at an agreement, they fill out a ballot using a touch-screen ExpressVote machine designed for people with disabilities, which in turn translates the vote into a conventional ballot that can be tabulated.

That same process is used for absentee ballots cast by uniformed and overseas citizens.

And in case there’s any question afterwards, the original ballot is kept as well, “and that gets put into an envelope with a chain of records of what happened to that ballot.”

 “People write all sorts of things on their ballots,” Craft says. “Occasionally they write us lengthy notes … There are a lot of votes for cartoon characters and fictional characters. Please don't do that.”

If a voter’s intent isn't clear, that particular vote or votes won’t get counted “because we couldn't decipher what they were saying.” Also, judges only count the names of official write-in candidates (who must have registered by April 1), so Mickey Mouse will never, ever win. In the rare occasion where someone actually signs their ballot (instead of the outside signature envelope), the entire ballot if disqualified.

Craft adds, “We sign our name or initial things probably literally a thousand times on election night, because they always have to know who had possession of those ballots.”

All election materials, including the locked ballot boxes, must always be accompanied by two certified election judges, whether they travel from outlying precincts to the courthouse, or from the election office in the basement, up three flights of stairs to Count Central.

“Not rocket science”

 Sound daunting? That’s why the election office holds training sessions every other year, prior to each primary election.

One three-hour session is required for both newcomers and seasoned judges.

Five trainings, each led by Election Administrator Toni Kramer, are available from 9 a.m.-noon April 24, 26 and 27, and 1-4 p.m. April 24 and 25. During the training sessions, she’ll cover voting regulations and review the duties at every position, “so people have an idea of what's going to fit them the best.”

To qualify, election judges must be at least 18 years old and registered voters in the county where they serve. They cannot be a candidate or related to a candidate in the precinct where they are working.

Kramer says it takes between 115 and 126 people to staff 11 polling places and the Central Count in Lake County. She currently has 110 judges committed to working in the primary and general elections – most are returning from the 2022 election cycle.

“I would love to see another 25 to 30 applications come in,” she says. “We’re a little short, plus people get sick or something happens and they can't work on Election Day, so having some extra people is really nice.”

After the training, Kramer submits a list of judges to the county commissioners for certification.

While judges are paid for their training and time spent working the election and reimbursed for mileage, it’s not a big money-maker, agree Murphy and Craft. In 2022, it was $13-$14 an hour.

“This way I get to give back to the community and maybe make enough money to buy a good bottle of Scotch to drink,” Murphy jokes.

As to qualifications, both agree that it helps to be detail-oriented and able to stay focused.  “Stamina counts, because you're going to work a long day,” Craft adds.

Although, it is possible to arrange to split a shift – a strategy that couples sometimes deploy to make the shift less taxing.

 It’s also crucial for poll workers to stay neutral and remain mum about the results. Election judges can face a sizeable fine for releasing any election results before the polls close.

Murphy says it’s also important to be positive and courteous. “It’s kind of customer service, and the customer is the public.”

Voters can be stressed, frustrated with the process, or simply have had a hard day. “We don't want life to get in the way of voting, so we need to make it as open as possible,” Murphy says, while adding that would-be voters need to do their part too by bringing appropriate identification.

Other than that, serving as an election judge “is not rocket science and you're always going to be with an experienced person,” he says.

While the average age of election judges “skews older,” says Kramer, some younger people have recently shown an interest. Her current crop ranges in age from 35 to 92.

“These people do a lot, a lot, a lot for this office, and I just can never say enough how much I appreciate them,” she adds.

Applications for the upcoming Election Judge training sessions are available online at www.lakemt.gov/184/Forms, or at the Lake County Election Office in the basement of the courthouse in Polson. For more information, call 406-883-7268 or email tkramer@lakemt.gov.