Carbon County Elections Administrator Reacts to New York Times Article
The article is on the experiences of an election administrator in Nevada
By Denise Rivette
I sent a New York Times article about an election administrator in Nevada to Crystal Roascio, Carbon County Elections Administrator, for her review and comment. The Nevada county discussed in the article has similar demographics to our own. She sent the following in response:
“Thank you for sending this to me. I read the article and our process is much the same as Nevada, when it comes to a recall. I am saddened to see our clerks and election administrators going through this. I know we have had issues within our state as well. I am not sure what we can do that will help the public, from all sides, trust the system. I wish I had that answer. Elections are for “the people”. I encourage the public all the time to get more involved in the process of elections. They can become an election judge, poll worker or just come and observe the process.”
When asked about citizen participation in this primary, Roascio responded:
“We had one poll watcher here in the admin building and one at the civic center. There are seven (7) poll locations (see below), plus our office. We had a total of seventy-three (73) judges in the process so far. The post-election audit will have an additional three (3) judges.”
I choose to believe that there were only two poll watchers in all of Carbon County because of our citizens’ trust in the administration of Carbon County elections. The theory that apathy caused the low number of poll watchers is belied by the high voter turnout in Carbon County (49.85% or 4,271 votes cast out of 8,567 registered voters).
Each ballot cast at a poll goes through approximately seven documented steps (including the voter casting the ballot) before it is considered fully processed.
4,271 Carbon County ballots cast x 6 documented steps after casting / 76 citizen judges = 338 documented steps per election judge
If each step takes an average of just two minutes, each election judge averaged 11.25 hours this primary election day on documented steps.
Mail-in ballots require two additional steps performed by County personnel, in addition to calling voters whose signatures or addresses don’t match and confirming they are the person who voted that ballot. Law enforcement and County personnel transfer the sealed ballot boxes from the precincts to the County administration building and document their handling (chain of custody).
If you would like to serve your fellow Carbon County citizens and support and defend your Country and Democracy, you can do so by becoming an election judge. The pay is $12 per hour. Training hours will be paid only if the judge is appointed. Election judges are expected to serve a two-year term and may be asked to assist with other elections during the two-year cycle.
You can find out more by going to the Elections Department page and clicking on “Want to be an Election Judge?” or by calling Crystal Roascio at (406) 446-1220.
There were many people who showed up last Spring for poll watcher training. Some worked in Carbon County, but many went to areas where they were needed most. I am very confident in the integrity of Carbon County's voting system.