People who cast ballots this fall won’t face the marathon Butler County’s poll workers brave each November 8.

“On Election Day, [poll workers] arrive at 6 a.m.,” said poll worker and precinct coordinator Adam Price. “They have some preparation work to do. And then the polls open at 7 a.m. Then they work the whole way through until 8 p.m., when the polls close.”

“And then there’s about an hour of work to do to clean things up,” he said. “And then two of the poll workers are in the polls to actually bring the results to us here at the election bureau, whenever they’re finished. So those two folks especially — but all of them — have a long day.”

A sense of responsibility appears to bring them to their posts, even year after year. They receive some pay for their work, but the values that drive them to choose poll work specifically ensure robust staffing for Butler County elections.

“I look at it as a civic duty,” said Rick Anzelone, election judge for Buffalo Township this November. “I spent 20 years in the Army, and I’m patriotic. And I like to see everybody be successful. I have a pretty good crew. Everybody does their job. And I’m prepared. I take on the project, just like I would if I was in my old job.”

Anzelone, who came into his position unexpectedly, has now served his polling site since early 2020. At the time, he was working as a secretary on the parks and recreation committee.

“I got asked to be the judge a day before the election,” he said.

Only three people staffed Anzelone’s team during his first year, which made its work challenging, he said. He did some recruiting and now has a team of five. The work has gone pretty smoothly since, he said.

Helping democracy along

Saxonburg Borough Judge Nichole Messenger also cites a sense of principle in her devotion to the work. In her case, her family shares a tradition of public service.

“It’s actually kind of a family thing, I guess you could say,” she said. “My grandfather was a constable. My grandmother was a judge of elections. My mom is currently a judge of elections. And I’m a judge of elections.”

She remembered her grandfather mentoring her after she turned 18 for a primary election. She then served in multiple public service positions before running for election judge in 2020, following the suggestion of a good family friend.

“It’s just a simple way to give back and be able to help out and make sure that everything goes as smoothly as it can.”

She said the most common problem that emerges with voting involves locating the correct polling sites.

“I’m usually shipping people here, there or everywhere,” she said. “And usually they’re pretty darned close to where they need to be, but they’re not quite there. That’s usually the biggest thing that I deal with most of the day.”

She described a voter who’d moved to Saxonburg from Indiana one year. He was surprised to learn his registration didn’t automatically change with him when he moved.

Messenger gave him a provisional ballot, which offered a path forward so that he could register, but it remained unclear whether that voter’s ballot would be counted or not in time for that election.

Another common misunderstanding appears to happen when voters register through Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation. At this point it’s not clear where the disconnect occurs here.

“I hear it all the time,” she said. “’Oh, I changed it whenever I changed my driver’s license.’”

“Well, nothing against PennDOT, and I’m sure they have a lot of things going on, but it doesn’t always get communicated —information between the election bureau and PennDOT.”

It isn’t clear whether this issue stems from boxes the voter forgets to check, other voter oversights or information slipping through the cracks between departments.

She recommends that anyone who’s in doubt about their registration status check by calling the election bureau. She recommends doing this before election day itself, especially in light of how busy that day is.

has navigated similar problems about polling location. He’s also dealt with visitors who distrust the process.

“I had a guy come in and say, ”Are these the machines that switch the votes?” said Anzelone.

Other visitors sometimes make unfounded claims about people receiving extra ballots.

Anzelone works to deal with people who grow confrontational directly, rather than allow them to accost members of his team, he said.

He takes the time to explain to them how ballots must be scanned in order to count. He and all four members of his team would need to conspire to commit felonies for that to work.

So far reasoning with these visitors has proved productive, with them conceding their misunderstanding.

“People think there’s fraud going on, but when you really check, when you explain to them how complicated that would be ... that’s just not going to happen,” Anzelone said.

Anzelone, a registered Republican, notes that even some of his poll workers might grumble at times about election fraud.

“You can have personal thoughts,” he tells them. “I don’t agree with your personal thoughts. You know how difficult this would be.”

He reminds them that they need to be neutral on election day, he said.

Anzelone feels an important asset to the democratic process often becomes lost in the discussions over election integrity — mail-in ballots. He himself just began voting by mail-in after becoming an election judge.

“I know some people just do straight party, but that’s kind of mindless,” he said. “You really want to look at each candidate. You can take that mail-in ballot, sit down in front of your computer. You can do research. Sometimes there’s questions on there — amendments and things — you can go online. I was looking at interviews where people discussed issues... I was looking at different campaign sites, and you can take a couple days to fill out your ballot.”

He said voters who use mail-in ballots don’t have to worry about waiting in line, becoming sick or resolving work schedule conflicts on election day.

“So I just wish there wasn’t so much controversy around mail-in balloting,” he said. “To me it’s secure, and there’s a lot of advantages.”