Bethany Center Resident Celebrates Forty-Second Election as a Poll Worker

Elections and the democratic process are possible thanks to the dedication of poll workers like Bethany Center resident Elizabeth Dunlap. This November will mark Liz’s forty-second election working as a poll worker, and though the technology has changed over the years, the election process and Liz’s dedication have remained strong. “Voting equipment has changed,” Liz shares. “But poll workers still make sure that everybody follows the rules and voters have a secure and safe vote.”

Liz began working as a poll worker in her early 20s. “I started at the church that I was going to at the time,” she notes. “I figured it’s my civic duty.” She started as a clerk, helping out at elections at her church and then at the polling places local to her apartment. Since moving to Bethany Center over 30 years ago, she has served as a poll worker for a majority of the elections held at the community. “I’ve done a couple of elections outside of Bethany,” Liz admits. “But they asked for me back because I know all of our rules.” 

A poll worker’s day starts bright and early at 6am when clerks start hanging up signs, putting together the election tables and setting up machines. Once the voting booths are ready and everything is in its place, the inspector, who oversees the running of the polling place, can call the polls open at 7am. While clerks check in voters and hand out ballots throughout the day, the inspector makes sure everything is running smoothly and no one is electioneering outside.

Liz has been an inspector since 2006, when the Department of Elections asked if she would be interested in the position. “They called me and asked me if I would be willing to be an inspector because some of the inspectors the community had had previously weren’t doing their job correctly,” Liz shares. A seasoned veteran, Liz was able to catch their mistakes and direct them on the correct procedures.

In addition to overseeing the clerks at their designated polling place, inspectors must complete the chain of custody at the end of Election Day. “It’s a lot of accounting,” Liz notes. Poll workers have to make sure that all ballots are accounted for while the inspector removes the memory card from the ballot marking device and removes the tape accounting for the votes placed during the day.

The chain of custody is only complete after the inspector signs and hands off the ballot materials. First, the inspector hands off the memory card and the tape to a transportation agency officer who takes them to the election center. Later in the evening, the sheriff picks up the ballots, which are also dropped off at the election center. It’s a complicated process that is made possible due to the hard work of poll workers like Liz.   

“Working with Elizabeth, you can see the level and care and dedication she has for equity in voting and serving her community,” shares Negeen Etemad, Poll Worker Assistant Manager at the San Francisco Department of Elections. “She’s always been eager to assist both voters and the department. She was even featured in some of our poll worker training videos from a few years back.”

Liz’s contributions also extend to the Voting Accessibility Advisory Committee, which she has served on for the last year and a half. “I share my input and look at it from the perspective of being both a poll worker and as a person with a disability,” Liz notes. The group meets regularly to discuss accessibility and elections, including reviewing potential updates to voting equipment to make sure any new equipment is accessible before it is adopted.

As a member of the advisory committee and in her work as a poll worker, Liz hopes to demonstrate how important it is to make voting accessible and to break stereotypes.  “Sometimes people look at you as a person with a disability and they have a different idea of who you are, and I like showing people that I can do stuff like that,” she shares. Outside of her work as a poll worker, Liz enjoys assisting people with technology as part of her day job, reading books and listening to music.

Liz wants more people to feel not only empowered to vote but also to participate as poll workers. “If someone is interested in elections and would like to participate as a poll worker, they should try it,” Liz encourages. Even if someone can’t work as a poll worker, Liz believes they should be engaged and talk to the people they know about voting. “Encourage your friends and get your registration done so you can vote by Election Day,” she notes. “And if not this one, the next one. Voting is important. It’s your voice and your voice counts.”

Photos courtesy of the San Francisco Department of Elections