Parrott reflects on Election Day work at supervisors meeting

After the board of supervisors finished its light agenda Tuesday morning, allowing for public input and comments, Jasper County Auditor and Commissioner of Elections Dennis Parrott reflected on the area and state gubernatorial elections held one week ago.

Prior to the meeting, Parrott spoke freely to the board and attendees about Florida’s vote recount, its irregularities and the handling of voter ballots, which some may have affected the results of The Sunshine State’s election on Nov. 6. Although Jasper County is not facing a similar situation as Florida, mistakes can happen on Election Day.

Once the Jasper County Board of Supervisors finished its action items, Parrott conceded to guests that he — along with every auditor — has likely made mistakes before.

“Fortunately we have good checks and balances that we catch it most of the time,” he said. “I don’t want to appear like we never make a mistake, because auditors do make mistakes. We try not to.”

Although he was hesitant to say Jasper County manages a perfect system during election cycles, Parrott did say he and his staff at the auditor’s office were “pretty good.”

Supervisors Chairman Doug Cupples wanted to acknowledge the roughly 100 poll workers who dedicated their time managing Jasper County’s 20 precincts and handling absentee ballots.

“We want to give thanks, also, to the poll workers,” Cupples said. “They’re working 15-16 hours that day.”

Poll workers in Jasper County make $10 an hour. When the new board of supervisors is instated — which will include Cupples, incumbent Denny Carpenter and newcomer Brandon Talsma — Parrott said he may ask for their approval to raise poll worker wages from $10 an hour to $12 an hour to match the “immense responsibility on Election Day.”

“It’s harder and harder to get poll workers,” Parrott said. “... They have to put in a 16-hour day. They can’t leave.”

Cupples said, “We show up there and be there for 15 minutes and don’t pay no attention to how long those people are actually sitting there.”

The job of a poll worker, Carpenter added, gets more complicated as time goes on.

“Most of these people don’t work with this electronic stuff at all and they have to learn how to do all that and all the rules and regulations that go along with that,” Carpenter said. “It’s not an easy job. It’s not.”

Parrott recalled a time when a disgruntled voter wanted both a Republican and Democratic ballot to fill out during a primary election.

“You can’t (do that),” Parrott said. “You gotta be one of the two on primary day.”

Unhappy with what the poll workers told the man, Parrott claimed the voter told personnel he had a gun in his truck and had even personally threatened the county auditor, which promoted authorities to respond to the scene and take care of the situation. Parrott said the man later apologized to him for his behavior.

Regardless, the experience of a poll worker can be strenuous for other reasons besides making sure the voting process runs as smoothly as possible.

“We had a flood at Colfax (and) we had to move (poll workers) out. Some polling places have had tornado threats. We could have had that,” Parrott said. “... Electrical failures. Everything imaginable! And yet they’re supposed to be perfect.”

Complaints of having to wait in line are common. Parrott countered that people wait in line “to buy tickets to see Garth Brooks” or purchase food from the drive-thru, but for some reason “we can’t wait in line to vote just a little bit” on Election Day.

Parrott looked around the room with a small smile on his face.

“You all ought to be a poll worker sometime.”

In other action Tuesday, the board of supervisors:

• Approved the construction evaluation resolution relating to the construction of a confinement feeding operation structure.

• Approved the hiring resolution of Jane Warnke, a delivery driver for Elder Nutrition.

• Set a public hearing date for a budget amendment at 9:30 a.m. Nov. 27.

Contact Christopher Braunschweig at 641-792-3121 ext. 6560 or cbraunschweig@newtondailynews.com