June Johnson is a retired 75-year-old teacher. She’s also a mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and history buff.
On Tuesday, she’ll be among the legion of poll workers pulling 16-hour shifts to make sure Election Day runs smoothly across Sedgwick County.
Johnson has worked the polling site at Westlink Christian Church near Maize and Central since 2016. It’s not far from her home in the Calfskin Creek neighborhood.
She talked with Tom Shine about the importance of voting, what Election Day is like and why she enjoys being an election worker.
The interview was edited for length and clarity.
Why she likes being an election worker
Since I'm retired, it gives me a little extra Christmas money. I have 18 grandkids, four — well, three and a half — greats, so the little bit of money helps (election workers earn $8.50 an hour).
And I just like the people and the crew that we get, a lot of the same folks working at Westlink…
The supervising judge is awesome, and we’re just friends. We see each other socially in between elections. So, we just make good friends, and we love our crew.
I've taught school for 35 or so years. I'm retired now, but .. this is a good chance to see former students … and it's just wonderful.
Why voting matters
My parents were big Eisenhower supporters, and so I grew up with how important it was to vote. And my mother had a book of the gowns the ladies wore in the Eisenhower inauguration ball, and I used to look at that when I was little.
The people that gripe the loudest usually are the ones that haven't voted ever. I don't think you have a right to gripe unless you vote. It's a constitutional privilege that we are given. And I think … it's a part of being a citizen.
What voters should remember
On Election Day, I wish they would double-check and know where they're supposed to be. They do get sent cards, and that's the number one excuse I hear, ‘Oh, I didn't know. I didn't get one of the cards.’ Well, it's probably mixed in with all the junk mail. That's just a little postcard. It's easy to overlook. Please check. (People can find their polling location here).
And this year, they're going to have a giant Q, A, R, or whatever code – I forget what they're called because I don't use them – on the wall that they can check while they're standing in line.
And the other thing is to have their driver's license out and ready when they come up. Sometimes, especially with some of the elderly folks, they have such a hard time getting it out of their billfold.
How she votes
I get the advance ballot now and fill it out at home, when I can have my voter guides and things in front of me. And then I bring it with me, and I put it in the giant — looks like a backpack — near the provisional table, and drop it in there, and know that it will go straight from Westlink, from a polling place, to downtown to be counted. So there's no question.
What Election Day is like
We have to be there at 4:45 in the morning and bring everything we need for the entire day. … We have a wonderful supervising judge that will bring doughnuts and coffee, and she takes really good care of us.
It starts out we have to set up everything. That's why it has to be so early so we can open at … six on Election Day, … We have set everything up and then try to work in breaks. When they had the abortion issue on Election Day … some of us had lunch about 3:30 in the afternoon. If we've got every poll pad occupied and a line behind them, we can't get up and leave to go eat or anything else.
And then it gets very long, and by four o'clock or so in the afternoon, I mean, I'm on autopilot, and I have no idea who I checked in or anything. My hands know what to do, and I get them checked in. And then, of course, after we close up that night, we're just really dragging, and I don't do much the next day.
Part of the issue is that pretty much everybody that works is retired, and so we're old to start out with. And it's a real strain physically and very difficult. But it's fun. I wouldn't … trade it. One day, two days out of the year.
