So, I’ve said this blog was going to be about my granny and how I plan on learning from her example and how what I’ve learned affects my life. I’ve started and believe me I think about how Granny might have handled my situation if she were me. She would handle it with perseverance and prayer. She might have even pulled her hair down around her ears. Realistically I know that Granny would never have found herself in this situation because she only had an elementary education. I however can hear her encouraging me to take it one step at a time. All the time telling me “you can do it sissy” “I have faith in you”.
These last few weeks have been the most stressful, aggravating and riveting that I have experienced in my job. I am an Election Board Secretary; (My pay does not reflect the responsibilities, but we’ll discuss this on another day). don’t get me wrong, I am blessed with an amazing staff that if it weren’t for their diligence nothing would get done. I’ve only been here since May 1, so I rely on their expertise. The title might seem all up there and all but I assure you it is a position that requires my perseverance and an attitude that reflects Christ in order to accomplish the daily tasks ~ all because of changes…the biggest is the re-districting. Can I hear an AMEN from the crowd?
The largest task I’ve had to complete since taking the reins in May has been the momentous task of re-districting. The task is huge because of the booming in population; My County has grown over 23% in the last decade. In 2000 the population came in at 70,641 in 2010 the population grew to a whopping 86,905 and continues to add new homes every month. This means that My County has gone from a rural county to a suburban county. Thus when the Oklahoma Legislators finished dividing up the county in equal population segments for the Congressional, House and Senate as well as Judicial, and the County Commissioners doing the same, Our County ended up looking like a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle. A puzzle that I had to make look organized and the only picture I had was an outline of the county.
The first part of the task was redrawing the lines. This was accomplished with the help and assistance of CSA—Center for Spatial Analysis located in Norman at the Oklahoma University Campus. (I’m a huge OU fan). The precinct lines were redrawn only where they had to be drawn. Precincts cannot cross any of those lines that were drawn for Congressional, Judicial, State Senate and House or Commission. This left me with few choices; I made only those changes that had to be made. This part of the task I knew all along was going to make some people un-happy campers, but it was out of my hands, I had to follow the state statutes and complete the task.
The second part of the task was accomplished after the state completed the transition from the old to the new lines. This took place after the 15th of December. Once we ran the report we found that several thousand voters were not correctly transferred and adjustments to the mapping had to be made. Our first report showed that 32 thousand voters would need to be notified. After we finished the adjustments somewhere around December 22, we were happy to see that only around 15 thousand were affected.
In attempting to take care of the second part of the task (notification of voters) we ran into a few obstacles. The Election Board Budget did not allow for such a large mailing. (Budget was cut $26k) The comment from my commissioners was “we know you’ll work within your budget”. Sure thing, I can rub two pennies together with the best of ‘em, but give a girl a break! Not only is it a Presidential election, we have new voting machines, new computer programs, and last but not least the re-districting. Can anyone else see that there might be an issue where more money could be an essential part of getting the job done? I’m good at finding creative solutions and I’m as frugal as they come but I’m seeing a huge problem here. To top it off I’m still learning the county process (which let me say will drive a sane person to jump). I have these 15 thousand pieces of mail, I need printed envelopes, printed letters, printed labels, printed voter ID cards, envelopes need hand labeled, them to be stuffed and last but not least postage. If I have a company do it for me I need the cost to be under $10 thousand, because if it isn’t then I have to send out for bids. (there was not time for the bidding process we are in a time continuum).
A metro mail house, once hearing our dilemma offered a solution by printing the letter, voter ID cards and the letter. We sent the information to them and then found out everything was a PDF and not a data file, more headaches. Finally, everything was printed and ready to be delivered to the USPS. I paid the postage by getting a PO for the post office the Monday before the Wednesday that they had to be mailed. (All notifications had to be in Voters hands by January 14)
Growing pains is a given whenever there is substantial growth in a relatively short period of time. In My County one of those growing pains is the 911 address system. Some residences have experienced up to five address changes in the last six years. Thus we have our next obstacle. Remember that 15thousand piece mailing; as of today over 3000 have been returned because of addressing issues. Now we have the task of trying to notify voters of the changes and the need for them to fill out a new voter registration.
I keep hearing my Granny cheering me on saying “You can do it!” I am doing my level best to keep the smile on my face with an attitude that reflects the love of Christ. Yes, I can do this but the only reason is because God is at my side reminding me that if my Granny could overcome the obstacles placed in her path and survive that I would survive as well.
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