Episode 10. Election Day Special- Genya Coulter

In a democracy with tens of thousands of moving parts, poll workers are often likened to the linchpin that holds all of the pieces in place. While local election officials train these workers and manage other aspects of the voting process like mail voting, during in-person voting poll workers are the ones verifying voter eligibility, addressing voter questions, handing out ballots, troubleshooting technical issues, and reporting results to election boards.

In this special Election Day episode, Genya Coulter shares how she came to work elections in the perennial battleground state of Florida as an election worker, which is what poll workers are called in the Sunshine State. She shares the serendipitous journey of how she went from wanting to be a political scientist who attended Georgetown University to one of the most effective and efficient election workers in her jurisdiction. Now a well known elections advocate on Twitter and the founder of #electiontwitter, Genya shares her perspective on the act of voting both as a voter and as an arbiter of democracy working the polls. She talks about the amazing experience of helping a newly naturalized citizen and his daughter during their first time voting, and tells us what happened when Gary Johnson’s campaign manager came into her polling place.  As a voter, the act of voting means holding elected officials accountable for Genya. As a poll worker, Genya sees it as her primary job to make sure that voters know no matter what, their ballot is safe as long as it is with her and her team, and that it will be counted as cast. “You can mess around with me,” Genya tells us, “but don’t mess around with my voters.”

Genya is also a writer for the non-partisan organization Elections Daily, and has also written for the Washington Post. You can read her writing on elections here.