In Norman: Voting in the dark

Wrapped in blankets and huddled around a portable kerosene heater, Pat Collins, Laura Wilcox and Corene Siglin sat in the dark at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church’s Parish Center.

They arrived at 6 a.m.

They came prepared — coffee, snacks and things to work on if they got bored.

And they’ll be at St. Joseph’s for a while; at least 12 hours.

Still, for the trio — precinct workers for the Cleveland County Election Board — Tuesday was just another day; there was an elction to work and Collins, Wilcox and Siglin each had a job to do — that is, inspector, clerk and judge.

They welcomed voters, checked names against the precinct list, handed out ballots and answered questions.

Only this time they did their jobs in the dark and cold.

The weekend’s ice storm may have downed power lines and left more than 25,000 Norman residents without power, but it didn’t change the world for the employees of the Cleveland County Election Board. Tuesday was election day, and the vote went on.

“People are voting, the election is happening,” Collins said. “Even without power. It shows us we can survive.”

With about 80 pecent of the election board’s precincts without power, election board staffers did things “the old-fashioned way,” said Paula Roberts, Cleveland County’s election board secretary.

“People voted,” she said. “They voted in the dark, but they voted.”

Sure, the ballots are the same. And there’s a big blue voting machine in the lobby. But for this election, Roberts and her staff hand processed a majority of the ballots.

With flashlights.

And portable heaters.

A lots of coffee.

“We’ve stored the ballots in the voting machines at each precinct and then brought the ballots here, to the election board office, and counted them.”

Once at the election board office, the ballots were hand fed into three voting machines stationed at the lobby to tablulate results.

Those machines, Roberts said, were powered and working, thanks in part to a loaned electric generator.

Roberts said Cleveland County District 3 Commissioner Rusty Sullivan brought her office a gas-powered generator, which provided some heat, light and powered the voting machines, allowing workers to process Tuesday’s election results.

“We do have some power,” she said. “We’ll be able to count the ballots with three machines we’ve got set up in the lobby.”

But at the vast majority of the county’s 70 precincts, electricity was Tuesday a rare commodity Tuesday.

“We did things by hand,” Roberts said. “But each precinct had a cell phone. They all know the procedure. Things went pretty smoothly.”

Back at St. Joseph’s, Collins, Wilcox and Siglin took the storm and the problems it caused in stride.

“It’s not that bad,” Wilcox said. “We watched it rain and tried to stay warm.”

As she spoke, the precinct’s 10th voter walked through the door.

Using a flashlight, Siglin showed the woman where to sign her name in the precinct book; Wilcox handed her the ballot.

A few minutes later, another ballot was cast.

“We set up close to the door to take advantage of the light,” Collins said. “But there wasn’t much at 6 a.m. this moring.”

As the woman left, Collins handed her an “I voted” sticker.

“Here’s you a sticker,” she said. “You earned it today.”

So did the staff of Cleveland County’s Election Board.

“It’s been a weird day,” Roberts said. “But we’re going to make it.”

Collins agreed.

“The post office isn’t the only one who works in rain, sleet, snow and hail,” she said.