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A day in the life of an election judge

A day in the life of an election judge

As with a lifeguard, the work of an election judge can mean hours of boredom and minutes of excitement.

In the mundane hours from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. when polls are open, judges check voters' registration and polling place locations. They may knit, work a crossword puzzle, eat a few Fig Newtons and balance their checkbooks.

If the election is contentious, they will work crowd control, thanking people for casting their ballot. Yet, they are always on the lookout for troublemakers who want to tamper with the ballots, encourage other voters to vote for their candidate, or otherwise taint the election results.

"A couple of years ago we had someone come into a polling place in Carpentersville who refused to take off or cover his shirt that had the name of a candidate on it," said Jim Morefield, Kane County election judge coordinator. "That's illegal. In that case, the judges couldn't allow anyone else to enter that place or the voter to cast a ballot until it's covered up."

Thankfully, those incidents are few and far between.

"The job of an election judge is a long day," said Arlene Gaglione, a county election judge who usually works at a polling place in Montgomery.

"We're at the polls at 5 a.m. and don't leave until 8 p.m. It's longer for the person who takes the ballots to the county clerk's office at the end of the day."

She and her colleagues will be working soon at the April 4 consolidated election.

"The job is not hard," Gaglione said, "I read, I do crochet. I do crafts when I'm not checking in the voters."

Cunningham and Morefield have the difficult tasks. They must ensure they have enough judges to cover the county's 228 polling places. State law calls for an even number of registered Republican and Democrats oversee each site.

That amounts to anywhere from 740 to 1,000 judges, Cunningham said.

To step up the challenge, enough of those judges, about 150, must be bilingual in English and Spanish.

"The number of bilingual judges needed depends on the number of Spanish-speaking registered voters in a precinct," the clerk said.

Considering all this, until 2006, finding enough judges to the accept day jobs was a nightmare because many longtime judges were retired and spent the winter out of state in warmer climates.

No matter how easy or demanding the job is, judges are always hard to find. Now, election officials depend on high school juniors and seniors to act as judges to share the boredom and excitement of the $200-a-day job.

They may be timid in telling an older voter to cover his or her shirt, or not to endorse a candidate to other voters while standing in the polls, but they sure are handy in solving problems with Kane County's electronic ballots.

"High school students are more tech savvy than the older judges," Gaglione said. "They help with the bulk of the technological problems."

Ask any election judge what is included in the potential excitement of the day, and he or she will tell you it is the fear that one voting machine is not working.

In turn, the seasoned, mature judges coach the students how to handle the people problems, she said. If both young and old share their knowledge, Election Day at Kane County polls will run smoothly.

To be eligible to work as an election judge, high school juniors and seniors must have a grade-point average of 3.5.

They must also enroll in the initial training course and be recertified every two years, as do all judges.

"The problem with high school students is they work for a year or two, then go away to college, so (like the retired people who work as judges). There's always a need for judges," said Cunningham.

For information, about becoming an election judge and sharing the mundane or excitement of Election Day, call Cunningham's office at (630) 232-5990 or visit kanecountyelections.org.

  Election judge Barbara Buenik of Mundelein reads as she waits for voters at the voting precinct at Fremont Public Library in Mundelein. Election judges are paid $200 to work the entire day, until the polls close. Gilbert R. Boucher II/gboucher@dailyherald.com
  In addition to their other duties, election judges are responsible for checking in voters. Bob Chwedyk/bchwedyk@dailyherald.com
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