Published: April 6, 2017
After almost 40 years of
volunteering, Sally Garvens worked her last election Tuesday
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
ndettmann@conleynet.com
262-306-5043
RICHFIELD — Sally Garvens wanted to
serve the community she called home for several decades.
So, she decided to become a poll
worker during elections.
That was in 1978.
On Tuesday, Garvens worked her last
election, serving the Richfield community for nearly four decades. Since 1989,
she’s been an election chief. This year, she oversaw District 2 of the village.
A brief celebration was done to
recognize and thank her for her service.
“I’d say a lot of the poll workers
that have been here a long time look up to her,” said Jim Healy, village
administrator.
In an election, the election chief
is arguably the most important person. They make sure the process goes as
smoothly as possibly for the voters, making sure they know what they’re voting
for or whom they are voting for, and for election officials, such as
inspectors, and to count and certify ballots.
“Every election is different,” said
Garvens, who was
a teacher in the Brown Deer School
District before retiring in 1961. “They have different rules and laws for each
election.”
Knowing all the ins and outs is
crucial to a smooth operation in any election. Having Garvens’ consistency in
Richfield was a valuable asset, according to Healy.
That was why her service was
honored, even though she said she isn’t big on being showcased.
“Any time you have a career in
public service, especially one as long as hers, it’s something that should be
celebrated,” Healy said.
When Garvens started as a poll
worker, Jimmy Carter was president. Since then, she’s helped people vote for
Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and
Donald Trump.
She’s also helped Wisconsinites vote
for six governors — Lee Dreyfus, Anthony Earl, Tommy Thompson, Scott McCallum,
Jim Doyle and Scott Walker.
Mixed in there are several local
elections of school board members, village boards and everything in between.
Also, when Garvens started working in local
politics, Richfield had no districts.
“My mother worked in the elections,” Garvens
said. “She was quite active in poll work.”
She added, “When my kids grew up to the point
that I didn’t have to be home with them all the time, I thought it’d be nice to
do service work.”
Almost from the beginning she’s loved working
the polls, helping people cast their votes no matter what was being voted on.
So why stop what she loves doing? The short
answer is it’s time.
The longer answer is technology has passed
Garvens as well as the demands to do the job. The November presidential
election was the tipping point.
“That was so demanding,” she said. “We had like
three weeks of numbering absentee ballots beforehand. That was very demanding.”
In nearly 40 years, things have changed.
“Many, many changes,” Garvens said. “Oh my
gosh.”
And, there have been hiccups in nearly 40 years
of public service.
One year, there was no electricity at the
polling venue.
“We had to use flashlights,” Garvens said.
And back in the day when ballots were counted
by hand, Garvens once came home at 6 a.m. the next day.
“My husband said, ‘Where are you going this
morning?’” Garvens recalled. “I said, ‘I just got home.’” She recalled one
former election chief was strict with how the operation was set up and
executed.
“I remember that I was afraid of her and
thought that I shouldn’t do this,” Garvens said. “She just frightened me. She
wanted so many things exact. We couldn’t read a book that had anything
political in it and she’d look through it.”
The people kept bringing her back.
“I liked it,” Garvens said. “I like the people.
It’s just great. I’m going to miss it.”
Adding, with a smile, “I can’t keep up with the
younger generation.”
No comments:
Post a Comment