Republican Election Judge in Dallas County

Just before the 2020 primary election in Texas, the Dallas County Republican Party sent out an appeal for volunteers for people to serve as election judges in Dallas County. This was necessitated in both parties by the rapid expansion of the number of places people could vote in Dallas County under its new "Voting Center Concept." The number of polling centers more than doubled and there weren't enough election judges or election clerks to staff the locations to both parties started scrambling.

Both Bill Anderton and his wife Nancy volunteered to serve, were trained at Dallas County Elections and sworn as judges.

Unfortunately, all of this was completed very late in the process, just two weeks before the primary. Election Judges are further responsible for recruiting their crew of Election Clerks and seeing that they get the required training. The election training was doubly important this year because Dallas County would be voting county-wide on all new equipment this year. It took some scrambling and lots of late-night phone calls but it all happened in time for the primary; clerks were recruited and trained in time for the primary.

Then, at the very last minute, the Democratic Election Judge slated to serve in the same precinct supervising the Democratic Primary had a death in her family and Dallas County Elections ask Bill to also preside over the Democratic Primary in addition to the Republican Primary. Bill agreed in the spirit of collegiality and, to this end, recruited an additional Election Cleck to assist. We successfully supervised both primaries without difficulties.

Bill and Nancy were assigned to Precinct 2008 - John J. Pershing Elementary School on Meaders Lane, deep in the heart of old Preston Hollow as their polling place. At the school, we were given the front of the auditorium for the polling place. Bill was able to set up six of the new e-poll books, five of the new ballot marking devices (plus one portable for curbside voting for impaired voters who could not physically enter the building) and two of the new ballot tabulating devices.

The school staff cooperated beautifully. We were allowed into the school to set up on Monday and were completely ready before we left Monday evening. We returned at 5:30 am Tuesday morning for last-minute details and to put out our no-electioneering signage. The Election Clerks showed by 6:00 am for their briefing and were sworn in by Bill. We opened on-time at the stroke of 7 am and voting started without a hitch. We closed at the stroke of 7 pm. Both open and close times were measured by my network-synchronized clock.

Although this polling center operated without issues, some nearby polling places had serious equipment problems. The new e-poll books allow any voter in Dallas County to securely vote (without duplicate) in any polling center so the polling centers with problems were sending us their voters. We handled the traffic without incident or waiting. All-day, the maximum wait time in line never got much over five minutes even at the peak because of the both efficiency of the new equipment and our Election Clerks.

Bill and Nancy provided breakfast and a catered lunch (a fed crew is a happy crew!) The stage area behind the curtain served as a perfect breakroom for the crew.

At the time of the primary, COVID-19 was beginning in Dallas County but not established fully in Texas yet. Still, for protection since the new equipment featured all touch-based screens, Bill secured a supply of 70% isopropyl alcohol wipes (hard to come by even then but Amazon came through), approved by Dallas County for use on the equipment. The clerks sanitized the screens frequently between voters.

In the weeks after the primary, Bill received no reports from the voting workers of anyone who become ill as a result of the primary.

Bill and Nancy had the honor of supervising what may have been the youngest crew of Election Clerks serving the primary that day: three college students between the ages of 19 and 22 plus two high school students between the ages of 16 and 18 serving in the newly-created posts of Student Election Clerks in Texas. All five were first-time election workers. It was gratifying to see the next generation doing their civic duty by serving in elections. What this crew lacked in experience, they more than made up for in energy and enthusiasm guided by Bill and Nancy.

It was a long workday, but voting went off without a hitch. The very young crew performed exceptionally well and a big "Thank You" to all of them!