Some blame older precinct workers for election troubles

MIAMI -- Eighty-year-old precinct worker Bill McKamy is getting too old for this. Not the elections -- just the fingerpointing.

Some people are pinning much of the blame for Florida's latest botched election on the army of volunteers -- many of them senior citizens -- who were brought in to run the new computerized touchscreen polling stations.

But McKamy isn't buying any suggestion that the old folks were befuddled by the new technology.

"If you think it's loused up with elderly people, try young kids," said McKamy, a World War II veteran and retired salesman who had to baby-sit his precinct's ballots for 16 hours after younger co-workers abandoned him.

During last week's Democratic primary for governor, some of the volunteer poll workers had trouble getting the new computerized voting machines booted up and shut down. Many poll workers were unable to download votes from machines or to change out batteries. Some walked out in frustration or simply didn't show up.

Officials in Miami-Dade County have suggested paying government workers overtime or bringing in technically savvy teenagers to make sure November's elections go more smoothly.

'Far, far, better'

Most elections could not be run without older people, said Doug Lewis, executive director of the Election Center in Houston. Lewis said poll workers, particularly older ones, have been overworked and underappreciated.

"They have been far, far better over the years than we had any right to expect, particularly for the amount of appreciation and money and everything else we gave them," he said.

As for any problems, he said: "Name me any other government office that has to recruit 6,500 TALENTED people who are willing to show up and do the training and do the job for minimum wage."

Lorraine Silverman, a 69-year-old retired medical administrator, said the only problem her crew of senior citizens had was setting up and tearing down the 48-pound machines.

"If we have to do the manual labor, I certainly would not work again," said Silverman, who lives in the Miami suburb of Aventura. "I've been on computers since 1980. I mean, the computer part of it was nothing."

Tuesday went fine for McKamy until 7 p.m., when his three support staff (he should have had five) left despite orders from the governor to keep the polls open an extra two hours.

McKamy waited until after midnight for someone to come help him close out the machines, then drove to the central collection point, only to find everyone gone. He put the computer card containing the votes in the trunk of his car and went home, even running errands Wednesday before election officials collected the votes that afternoon.

"I'm a military man," he said. "If you're put on a post, and you say you're going to do it, do it."

Wants more teenagers

Following the 2000 election, the National Commission on Federal Election Reform suggested, among other things, that states adjust their laws to allow more young people to work at the polls.

In a pilot program, Sarasota County Elections Supervisor Kathy Dent trained 41 high school students to set up and activate equipment, and to conduct demonstrations for voters. She wants to triple that number for November.

"These young people are just so bright and so quick," she said. "They want to do more."

Pasco County Elections Supervisor Kurt Browning said he is perfectly happy with his senior citizens.

"Often times, these retirees, we just think of them as old people," he said. "But these folks are retired Ford Motors executives, IBMers. They were in business; they were accountants, doctors, lawyers." He added: "I'm confident that retirees, with the proper resources, the proper materials, they'll do a bang-up job for you."

Jack Wile, the assistant clerk at Silverman's precinct, got paid just $92.50 for his 14 hours last Tuesday. But he is not griping.

"I have a very talented crew of elderly people, and they know what they're doing," said Wile, 65, a retired dress manufacturer from New York. "We don't do it for the money. We do it because we just want to do something civic."