Democracy is Not a Spectator Sport
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| Student Chelsea Fearer, left, gets touch screen voting assistance from Bobby Beasley, Walton County supervisor of elections. |
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It might not be unusual for supervisors of elections to visit district schools to lecture about government. It is fairly routine for elections officials to lug voting equipment into classrooms to give students hands-on voting experience. But it speaks volumes when an elections official recalls the experience with fondness and genuine enthusiasm.
Bobby Beasley, elections supervisor for Walton County, spent Oct. 19 with eighth graders studying American history at the county’s middle school. When interviewed about the experience, it was obvious the visit wasn’t just a job-related duty, but was a rewarding experience for him as well as for the students.
“We had a good time. They asked some pretty interesting questions, challenging ones. I was glad I was able to answer them,” Mr. Beasley said. The students, who were from classes taught by Jason Campbell, Delores Ennis and Jodi Howell, asked about voting rights, the Electoral College and specifics about the relationships between federal, state and local governments. “They were very interested in how states can do things differently, as long as they comply with federal law.”
There were some questions Mr. Beasley could not and would not answer. “Being an elections official, I cannot show a preference for a political party or appear to endorse a referendum. One young man asked me how much I make,” he recalled with a chuckle.
The highlight of the visit was, of course, giving students hands-on voting experience. Walton County began using new voting machines in July, so these students are among the county’s first residents to use them.
“Each polling place will now have two systems in place for voting – the paper ballots that are read by an optical scanner and the touch screen system,” he said. “Data are stored in multiple locations on the voting station. If a manual recount is ordered, we can print out ballots as they were cast.”
The touch screen system enables visually- and reading-challenged voters to actively participate in the process. These voters can hear the ballot’s options through headphones and can use a telephone-like touchpad, if needed, to record their votes. They can also write in candidates by using the touchpad and word prediction software.
While individual students voted, Mr. Beasley and the teachers entertained students with state trivia questions. “They were extremely competitive. We asked them what was the state bird and questions like that. Even the kids who weren’t that involved got into the trivia game. It was like Jeopardy,” he said.
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