By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
When the polling place for the 6th General Election District opens at the crack of dawn at the Lawrence Road Fire Co. Tuesday morning, poll worker Laura Wooten will be in her customary seat behind the table, waiting for voters to turn up — as she has for 77 consecutive years.
Yes, that’s right — 77 years. Ms. Wooten, who is 95 years old, started as a poll worker in Princeton Borough in 1939, and is the longest-serving poll worker in New Jersey and possibly in the history of U.S. elections. She has not missed an election — for school board, the political primaries or the general election — since then.
“I just enjoy it (being a poll worker). I like to be around people,” said Ms. Wooten, who is a self-described “people person.” That’s also why she has continued to work — for the last 25 years at Princeton University’s dining halls, where she checks the students’ meal cards.
“My uncle, Anderson Mitnaul, was running for justice of the peace in Princeton Borough, and he talked me into being a challenger at the polls,” Ms. Wooten said. A challenger makes sure that a citizen is eligible to vote, and checks off that person’s name in a book that lists registered voters.
Seated in a comfortable armchair at the Princeton Arts Council on the corner of Witherspoon Street and Paul Robeson Place Tuesday morning, Ms. Wooten noted that this is the place where she began her service as a poll worker. In 1939, the red brick building was known as “The Colored Y,” or YMCA, and it was one of the polling places in Princeton Borough.
Back in those days when Princeton was a small town, people knew one another. They knew all of the candidates, too, said Ms. Wooten, who moved to Princeton from Goldsboro, North Carolina, when she was 4 years old. She grew up in the John-Witherspoon neighborhood, and moved to Lawrence several years ago to live with family members.
“Nowadays, the candidates that are running — you hardly know them. They used to come to the house, knock on the door and introduce themselves. It used to be, everybody voted. If you couldn’t walk (to the polling place), they would pick you up and drive you there,” she said.
But these days, “nobody bothers,” Ms. Wooten said. The turnout at the June political party primaries is low, she said, adding that there might be about 100 voters. And that’s a shame, she said, because so many people are registered and able to vote.
“I try to tell people to vote because it is necessary. They don’t exercise their right to vote. They think, ‘My vote won’t help,’ but it does. They say they are not voting, but they complain that nothing gets done. Their vote does count,” she said.
But it’s not just voter apathy.
Ms. Wooten said it is not easy to recruit people to be poll workers. Election Day — whether it is the political party primary or the general election — is a long day that begins around 5 a.m. and does not end until after 8 p.m. The polling places are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., but it takes time to set up in the morning, to close down in the evening and to take the results to the municipal clerk.
Ms. Wooten recalled that when she began helping out at the polls, there were paper ballots. When the polls closed, someone had to turn a knob on the voting machine to get the count for the candidates and a poll worker signed the results. Today, ballots are counted electronically, but a poll worker still has to turn over the results to the municipal clerk’s office.
And while the candidates may change from election to election, one name constantly stands out — Mickey Mouse. Ms. Wooten has often found “Mickey Mouse” listed as a write-in candidate, but the poor little guy never seems to get enough votes to win.
Meanwhile, reflecting on 77 years’ worth of elections, Ms. Wooten said, “I never dreamed I would see a black president of the United States. I would love to see a woman become president of the United States in my lifetime. (Let’s) see what women can do, see if they can do better than a man.”
And as for Ms. Wooten’s uncle, Anderson Mitnaul? Mr. Mitnaul, who was a Republican, won his re-election bid for justice of the peace in Princeton Borough.
