Orange county poll volunteers help with early voting

For the last 30 years, poll worker Brenda Bell has helped the Orange and Durham County residents vote.

And she hopes to continue for the next 20 years.

“It’s important, because we have to have workers or people can’t vote,” Bell said.

This year, Bell, who acts as the chief judge at the Board of Elections voting site for early voting, has seen 551 early voters cast their ballots at her Hillsborough precinct voting center. Bell will work at Booker Creek voting site on election day.

Bell’s precinct has seen the second-most voters at an early voting site. The Robert and Pearl Seymour Center has had the largest turnout so far this year with 626 people.

Of the 44 precincts in Orange County, four have been opened for one-stop early voting, which will end Saturday.

Bell first began working in the polls when a friend asked her to volunteer in Durham County.

This is her fifth year working a poll in Orange County, she said.

Bell said she doesn’t mind dealing with the dozens of voters who visit her poll each day.

“I’m an old banker, and I’ve always liked meeting the public; that’s one thing that led me to this,” she said.

One of her more rewarding experiences was helping a young girl vote for the first time, she said.

“She was so excited; she was almost in tears,” Bell said. “She had just become an American citizen that morning.

“It just made me feel so good to allow her to vote for the first time as an American citizen.”

She said she feels a responsibility to ensure a fair democratic process.

“In my case, I feel like it’s a civic duty for people to help out at election time,” she said.

Tracy Reams, director of the Board of Elections in Orange County, said poll workers have to be recommended by their party chair and be a registered voter in the county.

Reams said the number of workers at each site depends on the expected turnout of the election. Every precinct has a minimum of three workers during regular elections — a chief judge and two other judges.

James Weathers, the chief judge for one-stop early voting at University Square, said workers who man early voting polls are not only essential to the democratic process, but are helping to attract a younger demographic.

He said early voting hopes to reel in younger voters, including UNC students, by allowing them to register in Orange County and then cast their ballot at once.

Reams said Bell and every other worker has to be retrained before each election.

On regular election day, poll workers must be at their site when voting opens at 6 a.m. and stay there until polls close and all audits are complete, Reams said.

Despite having to be at the poll for more than 13 hours on election day, Bell doesn’t mind the hard work.

“I enjoy working here,” she said. “I enjoy meeting the people and being able to help people vote.”

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