by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Jacksonville attorneys and their staffs went back to school last week . . . to learn how to be an elections poll worker.
“It was a lot more than I expected,” said Howard Coker of Coker Myers Schickel Sorenson Higginbotham & Green PA. “There was a lot to learn. It was very thorough and it turned out to be very interesting.”
Classes were held at various places and Coker’s was at the FCCJ Open Campus in Deerwood.
The students learned the various tasks at a polling place and were assigned specific areas. Coker and his assistants, Greg Oboikovitz and Becky Biastre, who took last week’s class, will be inspectors.
Classes lasted two hours and provided a comprehensive overview of the elections process and what happens at the precincts.
“It was interesting to learn about all the systems,” said Oboikovitz. “It’s easy to take things for granted, that things are as simple as they look. But there’s a lot to this process.”
Robin Roberts, president of the D.W. Perkins Bar Association, seconded that notion, saying she has learned that manning the polls on election day is much more than doling out ballots, smiling and giving away “I voted” stickers.
“It appears to be a lot of work and there are a lot of things to know,” said Roberts. “I am looking forward to it, but it’s going to be a long day.”
Former Perkins Bar president A. Wellington Barlow said the training caught him a little off-guard, too.
“It’s not easy at all. It’s a very involved process,” said Barlow, who was president in 1991 and will be running the precinct at Woodlawn Presbyterian Church on the Northside. “I’m a member of both the Perkins Bar and the Jacksonville Bar and it’s an honor to be asked to participate.”
Barlow said there may actually be an odd perk for attorneys who went through the training: the manual deals with so many legal procedures and statutory regulations he thinks The Florida Bar may consider the training sessions as continuing legal education credits.
Roberts said the Perkins Bar will have about 11 members participate and will be paired with the Jacksonville Bar Association to man two precincts. She expects the day to start about 6 a.m. and wrap up around 8 or 9 p.m. Roberts also said the elections training process has made her realize that criticizing poll workers without having done their job is unfair.
“Unless you go see what the requirements are, it’s easy to throw stones,” she said. “Actually, manning a polling place is a lot of work. I’m happy the Perkins Bar has stepped up and will be a part of the solution.”
Bill Scheu, a managing partner with Rogers Towers Bailey Jones & Gay, said it’s more than just attorneys who have volunteered to help. He’s heading the corporate drive, called “Partners in Democracy.” The program isn’t new — Supervisor of Elections John Stafford said it was created a year ago — but this is the first time dozens of local companies will volunteer hundreds of employees.
“John Stafford called me about a month ago and asked if I would help,” said Scheu. “I said I would. Doug Ward, another managing partner, and I talked about what we could do. Then, we went to Stafford and asked how many precincts he needed help with. What we envisioned was that we’d adopt a precinct.”
Their vision rang true. Although a majority of the precincts in Duval County will still be totally manned by election’s office employees and temps, Partners in Democracy will certainly help. And, Stafford welcomes it.
“The training is about wrapped up and I expect it will be a big help,” said Stafford. “We only pay inspectors $110 a day and a lot of them make much more than that. Plus, they will be a little more computer literate. I don’t know how many will come back in the spring [for the City elections], but I’m excited about how many we have on board so quickly.”
With the election just over a week away, Stafford’s nights are getting shorter and shorter. A worrier by nature, Stafford says sleep doesn’t come easy in the weeks leading up to any election.
“I’m looking for basically a perfect election. There’s a lot of pressure on me and my staff to get it done,” said Stafford, adding the infusion of corporate help will be nice and he hopes it’s a one-time necessity. “I think it’ll buy us some time to build our database. But, we hope the businesses stick with us in some capacity.”
Here are some of the businesses that have committed employees to the Nov. 5 election:
African American Chamber of Commerce, AmSouth Bank, Bank of America, Bedell Dittmar DeVault Pillans & Coxe P.A., BellSouth, Blue Cross & Blue Shield, Chamber of Commerce, Clear Channel Communications, Coker Myers, Communication Workers of America, Compass Bank, Convergys, CSX, Educational Community Credit Union, Edward Waters College, FCCJ, Fine Art & Framing, First Zion Baptist Church, Florida Rock, T0he Florida Times-Union, Foley & Lardner, Grimes Logistics, Haskell Company, Hispanic Organization of North Florida, the Jacksonville Bar Association, Jacksonville Greyhound, Jacksonville Housing Authority, Jacksonville Jaguars, Jacksonville Urban League, Jax Federal Credit Union, JEA, LeBoeuf Lamb law firm, Marks Gray law firm, Perkins Law Association and Regency Centers, Rogers Towers, Sally Corporation, Singleton Team, Smith Hulsey, SouthTrust, St. Joe Company, Stein Mart, Stellar Group, SunTrust Bank, Taylor Day, the University of North Florida, W.W. Gay Mechanical, Wachovia/First Union and Young Professionals.