Chief ballot inspector encourages others to become poll workers

By MITCHELL SCHMIDT

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    MADISON, Wisconsin (madison.com/Wisconsin State Journal) — If you’ve voted on Madison’s Near East Side over the last 11 years, most recently at Georgia O’Keeffe Middle School, there’s a good chance your ballot has been handled by chief inspector Blaise Besant.

While Besant, 58, heads south for the cold months, he makes sure to be in his hometown of Madison for almost every election, except for maybe a few February votes. After starting out as a poll worker in 2011, Besant has spent the last eight years as chief inspector in charge of one of Madison’s more than 100 polling locations.

What drew you to being a poll worker?

I’ve always been a political wonk to an extent, but I really care about peoples’ access to voting. When I first started working as a poll worker, I was retired and had moved back to Madison and I didn’t have a lot on my calendar, so it was really just a volunteer job. But the process was so fascinating, there are so many checks on the whole system. I recommend that anyone become a poll worker. From the outside you don’t understand how many checks there are along the way to make sure that everything balances — that everyone gets the opportunity to vote, but also that nobody can cheat the system.

How has increased scrutiny of Wisconsin’s election process impacted your work at the polls?

People are acutely suspicious of — and certainly more aware of — the election process. We didn’t used to have the number of observers who really came expecting to find an “I gotcha” moment. I think they’re quite disappointed when they see how mundane it really is and how the process rolls out. So the politicization of it is certainly increased.

Have you experienced threats or harassment as a poll worker?

I have had remarkably good luck with observers. There’s no reason to not have absolute transparency, because we’re not hiding anything. I personally have had really good relations with observers, regardless of their political affiliation, regardless of why they’re there. I have not had any problems, but I certainly have heard of other inspectors having problems.

It was an entirely different animal when we did the recount of the last presidential election. There were acrimonious times with observers there.

How do you handle those situations?

People will come in sometimes and they’ll throw an off-the-cuff comment, like “as if my vote counts,” or something like that, but they don’t stay long enough to have a conversation about it so we can actually explain why it does count and how we’re ensuring that it does count. I wish people would take the time to really learn how it works, because I think a lot of people have an opinion and they aren’t willing to listen to reason or maybe change their opinion.

Are there any common errors you run into when processing absentee ballots?

The word “municipality” seems to cause a lot of trouble. The envelope asks you to list your municipality, but a lot of people think that that’s Dane. If they live in Madison, they put down Dane. You’d be surprised how many people put down Dane, Wisconsin and then their ZIP code. And there aren’t that many people who are witnessing from Dane, Wisconsin.

What do you tell people who want to learn more about elections?

If people have a question about how elections work, I encourage them to become a poll worker. You will find out there really is no mystery behind the curtain, it’s a very transparent process and it’s very interesting.

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