by Monica Chamness
Staff Writer
Supervisor of Elections John Stafford has taken another step to prevent the debacle that followed the 2000 presidential election.
Partners in Democracy, an outreach program designed to garner more community involvement in the election process, was formed as a result of the Election Reform Task Force.
“We’ve been making additional improvements, especially with training,” said Stafford. “Some changes include extending the training period from one to two months, reducing class sizes from 50 to 30 and surveying poll workers for their input.”
Stafford established an education department within his office to ensure community support by educating the population about the election process and providing for better trained poll workers. He recently appointed former educators Tracie Collier and Garrett Dennis to run the department. Organizations such as nonprofits, churches, fraternities, civic groups and businesses are being solicited for volunteers through the end of January when poll worker training will begin. The goal is to train 200 more volunteers. Stafford is looking for volunteers who have a great deal of common sense, follow directions well and can think on their feet. Minority representation will be emphasized.
Dennis was hired after the 2001 election to train the current 3,000-plus poll workers, recruit new poll workers with a concentration on minorities, to build curriculums for schools and to conduct school elections. Both he and Collier share these responsibilities.
“Education is broad and continues to grow,” said Dennis. “I felt it was my civic duty to be part of this effort. I believe in what John is doing to get everyone involved. This is how we can get it right. I’m empowering the community with the tools they need to cast a vote.”
A Jacksonville native, Dennis’ desire to teach was sparked in college.
“I wanted to tear down the walls in the learning process,” he said. “I wanted to teach while I had the fire, while I was young and able to relate to the students.”
A graduate of both Florida Agricultural and Manufacturing University and the University of North Florida, Dennis taught science and math at Kirby-Smith Middle School, academics to handicapped students at Alden Road Exceptional Center and science at Robert E. Lee High School.
Despite his age and experience, Dennis believes his youthful appearance poses a challenge.
“My appearance is definitely the biggest thing for me to overcome,” he said.
Collier started at the Supervisor of Elections office the same day as Dennis. Their roles evolved from members of the education staff to directors of the partners program. They were named to their current positions last month.
“Partners has been on the book at least a year but it took off when Richard Danford [Urban League president] and Bill Scheu [an attorney with Rogers, Towers] came aboard as community leaders,” she said. “They solicited and recruited companies with our help. We’d like to recruit partners to go through the training process, work elections, and get paid. It’s a way for organizations to be recognized as being part of the solution instead of part of the problem. It’s also a way they can raise funds.”
Using the Supervisor of Elections existing budget, Collier and Dennis will be advertising in minority publications and church bulletins in addition to distributing flyers.
Collier graduated from Edward Waters College and the University of North Florida. She taught at Timucuan Elementary School and directed programs for teenagers at the Johnson YMCA. Most recently, she taught autistic children at Pinedale Elementary School.
“This position allowed me to teach and to interact with the community,” she explained of why she took the job with Stafford. “To me, that’s the best of both worlds. But being able to balance the election world and training with spending time with my daughter is a challenge. The election process demands lots of time and energy.”