On Friday, Oct 31st, Mrs. Richey was kind enough to sit down with MyParisTexas to discuss her years of service working Lamar County elections. Below is a transcript of the Q/A.
Q: How did you first get started as a poll watcher and what inspired you to take on that responsibility?
A: I was raised with a dad that thought you must vote, no matter what the reason and there was no excuse not to vote. I remember going with him to buy the poll tax back when you had to purchase one to be able to vote.
Q: What are your first memories of elections when you were a little girl compared to modern-day elections?
A: When I was a little girl, I loved election day. Because, that meant we got to pack a picnic lunch and bring our lawn chairs and sit in front of the Paris News which was on Lamar Ave. They had a large screen made of two bed-sheets across the street that was mounted up on the wall. As the election returns came in, they would show them on the screen. It was one big party because all of the adults brought their chairs to watch and the kids played. We had the best time.
Q: What was the first election that you worked?
A: The first election that I worked was election day. I was teaching and my principal allowed us to take a personal day and I worked polling place 1F which was the fire department in Pattonville. And I was hooked on it then.
Q: What has kept you coming back every election since then?
A: I enjoy the people. I’ve met so many nice people and have become friends. And it’s just like old homecoming week for me because a lot of them, they will come to me. And some of them will even wait in line until they can be checked in by me. I try to be a good influence and they know they can come and I will do my best to get them taken care of.
Q: What do you think that voters would be surprised to learn about how elections are run locally?
A: A lot of the older people are surprised because they started voting when we worked off of thick alphabetized books. We would write their name on a sheet of paper their name, address and their ID #s. It took at least 5 minutes to check somebody in. It took a long time for each person compared to now. People were much more patient back then. People are too big of a hurry. That is the biggest difference between then and now. Another thing when I first started this work was you had a paper ballot, you marked it and put it in a metal box. And then, those votes had to be hand counted. It would be between midnight and 2AM before we finished the count. Now we have machines that instantly count. Some people have questions about if the machines count the votes right? We test the machines every election.
Q: Why do you believe that having poll watchers is critical to election integrity?
A: People have always questioned “is everybody getting to vote the way they want to, or is somebody being told ‘how to vote’?” Poll watchers are there to observe and report to election officials if they see something that should not be going on. It helps people feel more secure.
Q: For the younger generations, the voter participation is declining noticeably. Why do you think that is?
A: A lot of it has to do with people being in such a hurry. Back in the day, I saw lines of voters that went out the door and around the block. Now, there is so much media coverage and ads for political candidates. Voters cannot discern who to believe and misinformation is everywhere. People are so busy so they do not want to waste their time and they believe their vote does not matter. This creates the apathy we see today.
Q: Do you think that people were better off when we did not discuss our politics?
A: Politics started changing about the time that John Kennedy was running. His Catholicism became a major point of contention in that election. Religion was brought out into the open in a new way. This was also the first televised debate between JFK and Nixon. You had televisions in homes becoming more common, we got our first one when I was ten years old. The media has drastically changed society in the way that we live, the things we think and the things we do. There is no control over it at this point.
Q: Any last thoughts for the readers that you want to share with them?
A: I started doing this work because of my dad. Then, I realized the importance of people voting. It affects everybody’s life. Everybody should vote. I try to make it a pleasant experience and walk people through the process and the technology. People are so anxious these days about voting. They need to come vote so they can have a part in shaping the county or the state or the country. Voting should not feel uncomfortable. It has been my pleasure to serve the people of Lamar County for as long as I have.
Lamar County Elections Administrator Tricia Johnson also submitted a statement for this story:
“Dorothy Richey has been an election worker for 23 years now. She started working elections under Kathy Marlowe, county clerk, who retired in 2015. She has spent countless birthdays here with us, as it always falls during early voting for the November elections. And of course, she will always have something waiting for her here when she comes in on that day. Balloons and flowers are what she really loves.
Because she was a teacher for so many years, you can always tell who she taught when they come in to vote. ‘Hey, Mrs. Richey!’ She also gets the most voters in her line because she knows just about every single person who walks through our doors, and they go right to her. She has done this work for so long, she gets calls at home daily about the elections. ‘What are we voting for?’ ‘When does early voting start/end?’ ‘Do you know where I need to go to vote?’
One day, she will decide to not do this work anymore, and that will be an incredibly sad day. I cannot even imagine how many times we will all hear ‘Where’s Dorothy?’. Maybe I can convince her to come up here for just a few hours on the big elections so we can see her and she can see everybody that she knows. She has become an institution to Lamar County elections and we cannot possibly begin to thank her properly for her years of service.”
