Joy Dzendolet (right) of Oak Forest has been serving as a Democratic election judge since 1965, monitoring the polls in Precinct 20 at Foster School in Oak Forest.
Q. How did you get involved in working the polls?
A. One of my neighbors was active in the Democratic Party, and he asked me if I’d work in the polls. I’ve been doing it ever since.
Q. Why have you stuck with it the past 33 years?
A. A lot of people think it’s not worth the money. We make $135 now. I do it because I enjoy it. I see people I don’t normally get to see during the year, and they get acclimated by seeing the same crew. We have three precincts voting at Foster School, but our voters know where to go because they recognize us judges.
Q. Do you know the voters on a personal basis now?
A. I’ve been there so long that I have children of my first group of voters voting now. That’s encouraging to me to see the 18-year-olds coming in.
Q. What time do you arrive at the polls, and what do you need to do before the first voter arrives?
A. We start our day about 5:15 in the morning. We have to set up the voting booths. Then we check that we got the correct ballots, and we set up the table with the affidavits binder and the judges’ materials. We get the ballot box in place, and we check the Public Ballot Counter to make certain it registers a zero. That tells us no one has tampered with the equipment.
Q. How do you pass the day?
A. It depends on the election. Some elections, like the presidential ones, we’ll be busy, but on consolidated elections that include the park board and the school district, the turnout is light. I visit with the other judges. Sometimes I take a hand-held poker game. Some judges bring knitting or read books.
Q. How has the job of a judge changed over the years?
A. When we modernized the voting machines, things got much easier. It used to be that we were counting ballots by hand. They used to bring in extra people just to tabulate the judges’ totals. And years ago, I can remember big black machines where voters would push levers.
With punch-card voting, it’s much easier. We run the ballots through a small computer that gives us a readout on a computer tape. But we still have a lot of work to do preparing our totals and following all the procedures for the county clerk’s office records.
Q. Why should we vote?
A. It’s your right, and every vote counts. I remember the election when (former south suburban State Rep.) Terry Steczo lost by 16 votes. People didn’t bother to come out because they said his re-election was a (sure thing). Well, it wasn’t. People need to recognize how important their vote is.
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