Editor’s note: Answering the Newcastle Pacer’s five questions this week is Karen Haley, the McClain County Election Board secretary.
Q: What made you interested in serving as the Election Board Secretary?
A: I had been working in the Election Board Office for five years when the Secretary, Marilyn McReynolds, retired in 2013. I loved working with both Marilyn and Tenna Garrett. I also enjoyed working with the precinct officials. The Oklahoma Election System is the best system in the world. There are a million procedures that all come together on Election Day so voters can cast their ballots. It is a fascinating process and I really enjoy it.
Q: What has changed with the way elections are held since you started as Secretary in 2013?
A: The biggest change since 2008 has to be the office computers. Believe it or not we did not use personal computers until 2011. Before that we used “Green Screens.” They were terminal monitors that had a host computer that did the processing. The change to a Windows-based platform was monumental.
Q: How does the voting system Oklahoma uses stack up to others in the country?
A: All 77 counties in Oklahoma use the same auditable and verifiable, paper ballotbased voting system. Oklahoma voting devices cannot be connected to the internet and have built-in security features. Every step of the election process — from the precinct level to the state level — is protected by an intricate security plan. To learn more about election security you go to elections.ok.gov.
Q: What’s the most challenging part of your job?
A: Finding and keeping good precinct officials to work on Election Day is a tremendous challenge. I spend a lot of time recruiting and training people. McClain County currently has 26 polling places and the law requires that there be three people at every polling place from 6 a.m. to after 7 p.m. on Election Day. When someone calls in sick, I have to start calling to find someone willing to be a substitute.
I am very thankful for the precinct officials who have shown up and worked faithfully over the past 14 years.
Q: What’s the most satisfying part of the job?
A: I Iove the people I work with in the office every day. We work well together to make sure every election held in McClain County is done accurately. There are so many things that have to happen for you to cast your ballot in any election; far too many to list here.
When each election is finally certified it is very satisfying to know that my team and I have done our best to make sure voters in McClain County were able to exercise their right to vote. We also have a great group of people outside of the office who help us. The McClain County Sheriff’s Office provides security and manual labor sometimes.
The McClain County 4-H Kids help us tremendously on Election night by carrying in all of the election supplies brought in by the Precinct Officials.
