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SPONSORED BY ORANGE COUNTY EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION
Making the machinery of
democracy run like clockwork
ADELE TAGALOA WORKS HARD AND WEARS MANY HATS TO HELP ENSURE A SMOOTH ELECTION DAY.
by PAUL HODGINS
W
hen Adele Tagaloa found out that her teenage son with special needs was locked out
of their house, she wanted to rush home to
help but she had to solve the problem from
her cell phone.
The Registrar of Voters is responsible for conducting elections in Orange County, which is the fifth-largest voting
jurisdiction in the nation with 1.6 million registered voters.
Its 49 full-time employees have a single overriding goal: to
ensure a successful election.
It was Nov. 4 – Election Day – and she had a vital job to do.
On Election Day, Tagaloa’s tasks include verifying that the
volunteer database is complete, overseeing volunteers,
managing the logistics of getting electronic voting equipment to polling places, ensuring Election Day supplies are
created and distributed, disseminating volunteer stipends
and staying up until the wee hours to ensure all ballots are
returned.
“There is no tomorrow in an election,” Tagaloa said.
“There are hard deadlines – that’s it. I have to get everything right.”
Tagaloa managed to aid her son while continuing to perform her many duties at the Orange County Registrar of
Voters. Like her colleagues, she understands the significance of her work to our democracy. “If I have to be away
from my family, I want to be doing something that’s really
making a difference,” she said.
OCEA
The Orange County Employees Association is
comprised of 18,000 working men and women
who stand together to improve the lives and
working conditions of employees in our great
County. Social workers, public health nurses,
law enforcement advocates and other employees built the Orange County Employees Association brick by brick over 76 years, and today, our members continue the hard work our
parents and grandparents generation began
– work that created the 40-hour work week,
paid vacations and wages that built a middle
class that is now a distant memory for many
families. When working people stand together
to bargain for fair wages and decent benefits,
California’s middle class gets stronger.
Today, the American middle class is under attack by Wall Street bankers and their lobbyists who work to outsource jobs to many third
world countries and slash wages for workers
everywhere.
The Orange County Employees Association
and our partners who are committed to restoring the American Dream are the voice of
California’s working people. We are innovating
to keep California competitive by retraining
workers for new industries and partnering with
leaders to keep jobs at home. We work to connect California’s veterans to the services they
need and the jobs they deserve, and restore
the American Dream our parents and grandparents built.
Learn more, and stand with us at:
www.oceamember.org.
Join our veterans efforts at:
www.veteransandlabor.com.
ORANGE COUNTY EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION
830 North Ross Street, Santa Ana, CA 92701
www.oceamember.org
“On election night I didn’t even realize I had been up for
almost 24 hours. I had been working 12-to-14-hour days
for six weeks straight,” said Tagaloa, 44. “I was in the warehouse around midnight. We have conveyor belts that run
the length of the building and they were just wall-to-wall
full. There was music blaring. I was dancing. It was great! I
have a lot of energy, which is a big help.”
Tagaloa works with public agencies to find and secure
all 1,135 polling places that are needed county-wide on
Election Day. “That includes about 360 public schools, fire
stations and other public spaces,” Tagaloa said. “Then we
have to find private homes, churches or any facility within
the Election code.”
Her preparations begin about eight months out. Staffing
on Election Day is a big concern, so she and her colleagues
identify volunteers as early as possible – three or four are
required for each polling place, including an inspector. The
County also hires temporary employees for extra help.
“Sometimes we just cold-call people from voter lists,” she
said. “I like to get students and younger people involved.
We have to nail all that down well before the sample ballots are even printed.”
Tagaloa joined the Registrar of Voters as a Polling Place
Lead in August 2009 after serving as a trainer in the November 2008 general election. Before that, she worked a
wide variety of jobs, including nine years as a technician
at O.C. semiconductor company Conexant and stints as a
teacher’s assistant, children’s pastor and volunteer for several nonprofits.
“I don’t like to be bored,” said Tagaloa, who manages
to juggle her career responsibilities with parenting three
teenage children. “This job draws on all my skills and experience, which I love.”
She doesn’t get much sleep in the days immediately after
the election, either.
“I check buckets. I check corners. I will go back a couple of
days later and start looking everywhere that ballots have
been. Some people crack up. They see me and say, ‘Why
are you doing that?’ You never know. I’ve never found a
Adele
Tagaloa
Age: 44
Occupation:
Polling Place
Lead OCEA
member since
2009
Q: Why does your job appeal to you?
A: I’m very service-oriented – I volunteer a lot – so this is a great fit for
me. Working with a hard-working team
to serve our community is one of the
best jobs someone like me could have.
ballot. I take great pride in that.”
Tagaloa knows that the election process is sometimes the
subject of controversy, high emotion and even misconceptions.
“I once had a caller say, ‘Well, polling places are picked for
political reasons, right?’ That’s a common misconception:
that we do things for political reasons. We are completely
nonpartisan.”
Tagaloa’s pride in her job is most evident when she talks
of the accomplishments of her workplace. “We run a tight
office and our ethics are really high,” she said. “We’re an
excellent team.”
Tagaloa also loves doing something that enjoys a long and
respected tradition. She says she never forgets that voting
is the most vital function of a democracy.
“The other day, a few days before the election, I went to
this place for breakfast and there was a man eating his
meal, and he had his ballot and all this information spread
out in front of him. That’s what voting is all about: taking
the time to really think about who and what you want to
vote for. It’s such a thrill and an honor to be a part of that
process.”
Expert Insights
1.
The Orange County
Registrar of Voters
needs volunteers for
many tasks on Election
Day. They also need volunteers
to host polling places. To learn
about how to serve your community on Election Day and to host a
polling place, go to www.ocvote.
com/volunteer.
2.
Want to know how
your neighborhood
votes? You can access
real-time
information about voter registration, city
vote breakdowns, vote totals and
many other things at ocvote.com/
data.
3.
Are you registered
to vote? Register
now, and find information about your
polling place, sample ballots,
how to request a vote-by-mail
ballot and more. Go to ocvote.
com/registration