Walk-in voters in this Tuesday’s Mal ibu City Council election were likely to see familiar faces at their polling station, with many of the elections workers already longtime veterans of Malibu’s municipal elections.
William Wishard, III, the election inspector for precinct 14 at Malibu City Hall, has been working for elections in Malibu since 2004 — the year George W. Bush was re-elected to the presidency. In the last 10 years, he’s worked for local and county elections, but according to him, his experience is dwarfed by that of his “election team.”
“If anything unusual comes up — these people have more experience than me — as a team we figure it out,” he said of the four poll workers in his precinct: Calabasas High School junior Faith Donaldson and enthusiastic veterans DeAnne Joy, Dick Joy and Shirley D’Haenens, who came decked out in red, white and blue from head to toe.
As election inspector, Wishard thinks of himself as the “team leader” — setting break schedules, assigning duties and bringing the voting materials in preparation for the election. The other workers include the election clerk, who ensures that all would-be voters are properly registered, and other workers who check for correct addresses and collect marked ballots.
While Donaldson was at the polls as part of the Malibu Student Poll Worker Program, Shirley, Dick and DeAnne have become regulars behind the table. Shirley’s husband called on her and Dick to volunteer at elections starting around 2002, while they were neighbors in Paradise Cove.
“It was very long ago. There was a place he went, he called and said, ‘Somebody didn’t show!’ so I got dressed and came over and I’ve been doing it ever since,” recalled Shirley, who added that she and Dick have been “together forever” working the polls in Malibu.
DeAnne Joy said that voters sometimes like to come in just to see their friends and neighbors.
“There’s a lot of enthusiasm, some say they just like to come in even if they voted from home,” said DeAnne.
Over at Point Dume, election clerk Candace Bowen and her husband, election inspector Howard Ferguson, have been working the polls for Malibu elections since before Malibu was incorporated, with their first election in 1987.
“It’s one of these jobs where you can’t stop,” said Bowen, who greeted many of her friends and neighbors in the slow stream of voters at Point Dume Marine Science School’s library.
“This is a privilege and I take it seriously,” said Bowen, “but we do have a lot of fun. My neighbors recognize me.”
Even election newcomer Matthew Rafeedie, the student poll worker assigned to Point Dume, was greeted by many voters at the polling station, who stopped to talk sports and school with the Malibu High sophomore.
“It offered community service and I’m really interested in politics. It’s what I want to do for a career,” said Rafeedie, who added that the day, though long, gave him the chance to, “have fun, learn how polls work and how the government runs at a local level.”