Poll Workers Donate Their Time and Paycheck

By Olivia Page

Local voters Shelby Taylor and Debora Lescault participated in the Adopt-A-Precinct program through the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections for the 2018 City of Gainesville Regular Election. Started this year, the Adopt-A-Precinct Program allows people to sign up to work Election Day and pledge to donate the money they earn.

“I thought it was a great way to double down on my civic engagement by serving my community as a poll worker and donating the dollars earned to a great cause,” said Taylor, who works as the director of communications at the University of Florida’s Bob Graham Center for Public Service. “I spend the majority of my days working to ensure that UF students become engaged citizens. It’s important to me that I lead by example.”

Poll workers can choose the organization to which they contribute the money they earn.

Taylor, whose daughter was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, chose to donate to the Central and Northern Florida Chapter of the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

“There are several organizations that my husband and I donate to regularly,” Taylor said. “Make-a-Wish is one that is very close to our hearts as our daughter was a wish recipient.”

Lescault, an accountant at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, elected to give the money she earned to Gainesville’s Catholic Charities. She serves on the organization’s board.

“I hope to give to other charities each time I work the polls. I hope by giving to charities locally, they can reach out to others that work with them to join the program,” Lescault said.

Both women stressed the importance of acting on their civic duty. Serving as poll workers helped them encourage others to vote and take part in the process, they said.

“Serving as a poll worker strengthens one's commitment to voting and voter engagement. Being a poll worker gave me the opportunity to build awareness about voter services among my network of friends and the students I serve at work,” Taylor said.

Signing up to be a poll worker means going a step beyond the fundamental civic responsibility to vote, and Lescault said that civic responsibility — to her — means giving back or paying forward what she can to her community, including her alma mater (the University of Florida) and her church.

If you wish to learn more about the Adopt-A-Precinct Program, please email TJ Pyche, the director of outreach for the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections, at tjpyche@alachuacounty.us.

Olivia Page is a communications intern with the Alachua County Supervisor of Elections.