Editor’s note: Deputy County Clerk Kari Johnson reports 193 Election Judges worked in Whiteside County, on Tuesday, April 4, 2023. The Editor was one.
It was still “night” as I alone drove south on Jackson Street, toward Odell Public Library, 307 S. Madison Street, shortly before 5:00 a.m. I passed a Moring Disposal, Inc. crew at the junction of E. Wall and S. Jackson Streets. My headlights illuminated reflective tape on yellow jackets worn by two men in the dark. I noted they had a lot of toters to empty along Wall Street. How early must they have started work? I wondered.
I arrived at 5:00 to find the City of Morrison Community Room brightly lit, with other Election Judges and Jerry Bramm in motion. This was my second time as an Election Judge, so I began a simple ask of taping required “sample ballot” posters outside the voting room and inside. Earlier in the morning, half the room had been arranged with seven voting carrels on tables; each had a black pen. I helped Bramm paper clip a chart showing how to completely fill in ovals to mark the ballot.
Three long tables designated registration stations for precincts: Clyde, Mount Pleasant 3, and Mount Pleasant 4. Copious voting supplies had to be unwrapped and displayed, i.e., books listing registered voters; ballots; privacy covers; black and red pens for different uses; a plethora of official forms and envelopes that Judges would sign.
Polls opened across Whiteside County, IL, at 6:00 a.m., on Tuesday, April 4, 2023, for the Consolidated Election. On this morning, I had a new task that was not used during my 2022 day as a Judge. I was told to go outside the Library and loudly announce–three times–into the darkness, “The Polls are open!” It felt reminiscent of Town Criers in small Colonial villages. Nary a soul or dog responded.
Just before 6:15, Vernon and Nola Tervelt cast the first two ballots. This early start seemed promising, but the entire day would garner only 77 votes from these three precincts. Two Judges and I shouted into the darkness at 7:00 p.m., declaring, “The Polls are closed!”
I remembered the Judge procedures from last year and set to work. Each precinct received three alphabetized books of registered voters. They held tear-out sheets, for a voter to sign in. One Judge per precinct found a voter’s name, tore the page from the book, and removed strips on two edges of the paper. A voter signed the form; it was transferred to a second Judge. She initialed it and wrote a number on it, documenting what number voter this was. That paper was put onto a spindle. A Judge then initialed a ballot, offered instructions, and gave the ballot and privacy cover to the voter.
After voting, each citizen removed the privacy screen and fed their ballot into a “counting machine.” Judges do not handle marked ballots. Finally, the voter was presented the iconic “I Voted” sticker for proud display.
Clyde Judges were Heather Bush and Kelly Welding; Mount Pleasant 3 Judges were Denise Bramm and Andrea Dalton. Mount Pleasant 4 had three Judges–Carole Patton, Stephanie Vavra, and Deb Workman–so they switched tasks every two hours.
The room was uncomfortable due to cold air blowing from fans. The temperature was 61.1 degrees at one morning reading and again at 2:00 p.m. When a Judge tried to increase the temperature, some heat would come on for only a short time. City Administrator Brian Melton was called to the building twice, but his efforts did not solve the problem–until he called an HVAC company to make a service call.
While we waited for heat, the day darkened. Most Judges’ phones simultaneously alerted us to storm and tornado warnings in the afternoon. Voter turnout disappeared due to gusty winds, heavy rain, and a bit of hail. Large, arched, north windows leaked onto their wood frames, ledges, and the floor. Rising water in the parking lot threatened to crest over the curb.
Heat would not return until minutes before 4:00 p.m. Service Tech Rudy Mitchell, Jr. works for Helm Mechanical in Freeport, Rockford, Dixon, and Morrison, IL, among other cities. He is skilled at refrigeration, heating, boilers, and cooling devices. He quickly realized the boiler was the trouble spot. During a phone consultation, Kurt Balles walked Rudy through the steps to fix the Community Room boiler issue.
Seven chilly–but enterprising–Election Judges worked most of their 14 hours in a room amid temperatures in the very low 60s, and with serious storm activity beyond the leaking windows. Left-to-right are Deb Workman; Kelly Welding; Stephanie Vavra; Heather Bush; Carole Patton; Andrea Dalton; Denise Bramm.
Patton gave Workman a double-sided fleece blanket from her car.
Husband Mick Welding brought his wife a throw.
Bush wore her cardigan.
Vavra and Patton wore their coats.
Lisa Bramm Rogers brought three throws for her mother, Dalton, and Vavra.
It was quite a day!
