Behind the polls

There’s more to elections than voting. There are those who safeguard the process –– they are your area poll workers.
Finding those willing to work election polls is becoming increasingly difficult and current workers aren’t getting any younger.
But in Nodaway County, four area high school seniors became involved in helping out at the polls and have received scholarships for their services.
Amanda and Danielle Amos, Garrett Carver and Samantha Honan met in the courthouse Thursday morning with Nodaway County Clerk Beth Walker to receive recognition for time spent at the election polls over the past two years.
Amanda and Danielle Amos recently graduated from South Nodaway High School and both will be attending Central Methodist College. They each received a $600 scholarship.
Garrett Carver, a graduate from West Nodaway, will be attending Johnson County Community College. He received an $800 scholarship.
Samantha Honan is also a graduate of West Nodaway. She will be attending Northwest Missouri State University –– her scholarship was for $900.
Walker said after the April election, participating students were asked to submit an essay on their election experience.
“From those participants I was able to award scholarships to all four seniors,” Walker said. “The amounts of the scholarships were based on attendance, election judge comments, the student essay and the attendance at the presentation today.”
Amanda Amos said she learned something new each time she worked at the election polls.
“We learned about how the ballot counter works,” she said. “Sometimes the voter turnout is a lot more than other times. When the turnout is low, it can make for a long day. The weather seems to make a difference.”
Danielle said it was interesting how some people participate in every election, others only vote in General Elections.
“We passed a lot of time visiting with the judges on slow election days,” she said.
According to Walker, the Youth Election Participation Program was introduced in Nodaway County in early 2004.
“Three area schools submitted names of students who qualified for the program and three scholarships were awarded in 2005,” Walker said. “The second session was attended by 22 students from five area schools and nine scholarships were awarded. This third session was attended by nine students from three school districts and today we are awarding four scholarships.”
Walker said funding for the program comes out of the Election Services Fund. Money for this fund comes from charges to entities when elections are conducted.
“Some of the uses for this fund can be supplies, equipment or training,” Walker said. “I wanted to expense most of this money back into the Youth Election Participation Program by creating a scholarship program.”
Walker expressed gratitude to the students for their participation in the program.
“You have no idea how much your assistance has helped the election process,” she said. “Your interest in the process and desire to learn, along with your fearless use of technology improved the election process at each polling site you assisted.”
Walker said she hoped the students will use the knowledge they have of the election process and become involved in their local, state and federal elections.
“Please don't take someone else's word for election issues in order to form our opinion,” she said. “You have complete resources at your disposal and through school and your internet searching, you know how to research a candidate or issue. Take time to inform yourself of these things.”
Walker continued by telling the students if they learned anything from participating in the program, she hoped it was the need to vote.
“It is our constitutional right to vote and one that has become neglected for various reasons over the years,” she said “My sincere hope is that you take this process and apply it to the rest of your life and exercise your right to vote. That is what Democracy and freedom are all about.”