Pandemic Poll Workers Answer The Call

Twenty-year-old Gabriell Matos, dressed in full PPE gear, was stationed outside Bishop Woods School Tuesday morning. He held the door open to voters and pumped out hand sanitizer to all.

Matos and 11 other Bishop Woods poll workers greeted over 200 voters when they opened at 6am. By mid-morning, voters trickled in more slowly with no lines and no wait.

Matos said that while he was worried about Covid-19, all voters showed up in masks and respectfully socially distanced. ​“I was more nervous asking people to cover their politics on their hats or whatever.”

He responded to an ad describing the need for poll workers this year because of Covid-19. ​“I saw that and I was like I really gotta do my part” Matos said.

Matos was one of around 600 people who answered the call Tuesday. They agreed, at a time when Covid-19 is on the rise again in New Haven, to spend 14 hours indoors with lots of people coming in and out.

Some, like Matos, were young people stepping up so that veteran poll workers — who skew older — could avoid potentially deadly contact with the coronavirus.

Others, like Harriet Welfare and Ethel Berger, show up every year, and had no doubt they belonged back at the polls helping make democracy run.

They were the heroes who enabled New Haven to hold a busy election in a pandemic.

Those interviewed at the polls Tuesday praised the safety measures taken by the Registrar of Voters office in organizing the day.

Like Matos, Robin Miller Goodwin (pictured) was working at the polls for the first time this year. (She worked the primary as well.) The call she answered came from her sorority, Delta Sigma Theta.

“I feel safe,” Goodwin said during a poll duty break Tuesday at Lincoln Bassett School, Ward 20’s polling place. She made use of the mask and gloves she was given; she didn’t feel she needed to don the gown or face shield she was offered as well. (“It fogs up. I can’t see,” she said of the shield.)

Chill In Westville

Girl Scout cookies and live music were posted outside Edgewood School, Ward 25’s polling place. Inside the building were poll workers working while covered from head to toe in gowns, Covid-19 face shields, masks, and gloves. Sanitizers were placed on every registration table.

Harriet Welfare, 63, said she did not worried about her safety regardless of her age potentially putting her at risk of being exposed to the virus.

“Technically everyone is at risk, and I’m very cautious,” Welfare said. ​“We have the hand sanitizer spray that I keep spraying, and I’m washing my hands a lot. I’m also changing my gloves. I have extra masks to change in case my mask gets too damp.”

Larsson Youngberg, 36, who has been a poll moderator for four years, noticed an influx of new poll workers for this year’s election.

“I’m not terribly worried about either my health, but a lot of people are. Frankly that makes my job even more important to make sure that everyone stays safe,” Youngberg said. ​“In a time when there’s a great deal of uncertainty I think it’s important to make things work.” 
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Teary-Eyed On Prospect Street

Outside Celentano School, Ward 19 Democratic Town Committee Co-chair Ethel Berger welcomed voters with candy, answered questions, and directed voters inside.

Berger said that by 5:30 a.m, the line of voters wrapped around the school. By noon, 523 New Haveners had voted at Celentano.

Berger works at the polls every year. She said the flood of New Haveners who showed up to vote this year was especially exciting. ​“It almost brought tears to my eyes early in the morning. It was really inspiring.”

Berger added that this year she helped direct many people who either had not voted before or had not voted for a while. Prior to Election Day, Berger also helped direct voters with email reminders about where and when to vote. ​“This is the first year that nobody’s shown up in the wrong place that I know of!”

Leighton Lampley, 21, walked out of the Celentano School to applause for being a first-time voter and took a selfie with his mom, Susan Thomas, to show off their matching ​“I Voted” stickers. ​“It felt great!” Lampley said.

Lampley and Thomas said they were impressed with the sanitizing and social distancing measures inside Celentano School and were not concerned about in-person voting due to Covid-19. ​“If people can go to the grocery store, if you can go to TJ Maxx, if you can go buy wine, you can go vote. You will be OK,” Thomas said.

Maya McFadden and Paul Bass contributed reporting.