Official Calls Poll Workers `Achilles' Heel' of Elections
She faults the workers instead of the voting machines and ballots.

By TAMARA LUSH
St. Petersburg Times

They have been called the weakest link in Florida's election system, the last defense between a well-run democracy and a banana republic.

They also may be the most overlooked of all the potential problems facing Florida's election system.

While touch-screen voting machines and a flawed list of felon voters have garnered the headlines this year, the biggest problem could be the state's 30,000 poll workers.

They make about minimum wage, work a 15-hour day and must navigate the intricacies of Florida's complex election laws.

"Poll workers are the Achilles' heel of the elections process," said Theresa LePore, Palm Beach County's supervisor of elections.

Thousands of poll workers across the state began training last week on the finer points of elections in preparation for the Aug. 31 primary.

Local elections supervisors ensure that voting equipment functions properly, organize needed paperwork and educate voters, but if poll workers fumble on Election Day, the whole system can collapse.

It's not a uniquely Florida problem: Elections officials in nearly every state report problems with the people who work the polls.

"It's a human environment," said Hillsborough Elections Supervisor Buddy Johnson. "Our poll workers do a great job, but no one is perfect."

The 2000 presidential election mess demonstrated how poorly trained some poll workers were. Before then, Florida had no statewide guidelines for training workers.

Voters across the state claimed that poll workers refused to replace spoiled ballots. Precincts opened late because poll workers didn't show up on time. In many counties, people who showed up at the polls were told they weren't on the voter rolls and no effort was made to locate their registration.

Problems continued in various local, primary and statewide elections in 2002, especially with new touch- screen voting machines.

PEOPLE AND MACHINES

The problems of the 2000 and 2002 elections stemmed largely from two issues: technical glitches and inadequate training.

Ted Selker, co-director of the Caltech/MIT voting technology project, and his voting group studied "lost votes" in the 2000 presidential election. He estimates 1 million votes were lost nationwide because of polling place operational problems, including long lines that discouraged voters.

In Florida, a bipartisan task force appointed by Gov. Jeb Bush said problems at the polls can be significantly reduced with better training.

"In fact, it seems remarkable that more problems do not occur," reported the task force, which was led by former Secretary of State Jim Smith.

Embarrassment over Florida's election debacle spurred numerous changes.

In October 2002, President Bush signed legislation allocating $3.86 billion to replace outdated voting systems and to implement new federal elections standards. Most of the money went to new technology, not poll worker training.

A 2002 state law included training and instruction on how to be more courteous and sensitive to disabled people.

The primary change is an increase in the number of hours poll workers are trained. Florida now requires a minimum of three hours for clerks, who run the polling places, and two hours for inspectors, who activate the touch-screen cards and maintain voter registration books.

Selker said such training is critical for smooth elections. So is hands-on training.

In Florida, each elections supervisor trains his own poll workers.

Inconsistencies were evident in Florida counties.

In 2002, Broward and Miami-Dade trained poll workers in two- and three- hour sessions, compared with Pinellas, Hillsborough and Pasco, where many workers received as much as 12 hours of training.

Broward and Miami-Dade had numerous problems with elections that year, while counties around the Tampa Bay area were largely trouble-free.

A JOB FEW WANT

There's a lot to remember if you're a poll worker.

There are Voter Activation Cards, which are different from the Card Activators. There's the red mesh sack filled with goodies, including stickers that say "I voted," moistened wipes for the touch screen machines and a county precinct map.

There's another sack, even more important than the red one. It's called the "Provisional Ballot Bag," which includes the "secrecy envelopes."

And then there's the low pay, hardly an incentive. Most poll workers make $100 to $150 a day, depending on their position and the county.