Wanda Collamore is a custodian at the Post Office (from where most people recognize her), a part-time home aide, and a seasonal poll worker (from where people also recognize her). When she married Merritt Collamore 42 years ago, they chose to live in Waldoboro because it was in the middle between their mothers’ homes. It turned out, however, that Merritt got the better end of the bargai, because they were only five miles from Merritt’s mother in Bremen compared to Wanda’s sixteen in Rockland. But they both agreed: Merritt was a clammer and what was closer than the Waldoboro River? Merritt died in 2009. After, people wondered if Wanda would move back to Rockland, but she said no. Waldoboro is where she and Merritt raised their daughter and two sons, and Waldoboro is her home. It was Merritt who worked at the Food Pantry, carrying boxes of provisions to the basement, even when it was hard for him to catch his breath, even when he could barely put one foot in front of the other. After his death, Wanda wondered if she could do something in his place. She bagged food and carried bags to people’s cars. Only a recent heart attack has forced her to cut back, but not much. Today she sits on its Board of Directors helping any way she can.
I remember one time, there was a gentleman who came to the Food Pantry. He was in his 80s and thought he’d never have to do something like this in his life. I said to him, “It doesn’t matter. That’s what here for. We’re here to help.” I gave him his bags and when he turned around, I saw tears rolling down his face, so I said, “It’s okay.” And he said, “Is it okay to give you a hug?” Well, I needed a moment after that, so I went into the bathroom and bawled like a baby. He was a veteran. And he was so proud. It meant everything for me to be able to help him that day.
Then another day we had a little girl in a dress with sequins. She was standing there, taking the sequins off and eating them. We were like, “Oh my God, don’t do that, don’t eat those. Here’s some snacks, here’s some fruit.” Well, she got very serious and said, “It’s what I had for lunch.” Her grandmother had brought her sisters and her there after school. Thank God for her getting help for those children. I said to myself, “That’s another reason to be thankful, that I can make a difference in someone not having to eat sequins for lunch.”
About 20 years back, I got into poll working. Linda Perry, the Town Clerk back then, asked me. They needed a Democrat because the polls require someone from each party. I’ve been doing that pretty much since. And I’m damned proud of the job I do.
When Biden was elected, people said things on Facebook like, “My vote’s not going to get counted,” or “It’s all a tricked election.’ Well, no, it wasn’t. I don’t make mistakes when I’m doing that job. I do it the way it’s supposed to be done. Whatever is voted, I make sure it’s voted. And when the tallies are tallied, I’m right there to make sure that those tallies are right. And if they’re not, we’re going to do it again.
Those of us in Waldoboro knew the machines were working. We tested them. For each election, we have a Republican and a Democrat testing those machines with about eight, maybe ten ballots, and we do every scenario you could possibly have ahead of time. We fill one out with all Yes’s. We do another with all No’s. Or, Yes/No, Yes/No. Or, Yes, and then leave the next one blank. There are all sorts of possibilities that we test for. Like overvotes where people vote both circles. We don’t know whether they want Joe Smith or the next guy, so we blank it out because there’s no direct vote. But maybe someone starts to mark a spot but then changes their mind and checks the other one – in that case, we look at how they are marking their ballot, and if they check-mark the others the same way, then that one’s going to be a Yes because they checked it, even though there is a little ink spot in the other space. Their intent is to vote Yes. The machine does the tabulating, but we each validate its votes.
When we’re done with the tallying — for town, state and federal elections — we write down every vote that we’ve tallied up on the tape. Then we do all the tapes, and we do that validating. Republican and Democrat, we both sign that tape. And date it. And when the call comes for the tally sheets, all those sheets have to match up with what the tapes say. Then we sign and date those, validating them, too. This way, everything is accounted for.
After that, it all is put into these blue boxes, and they get locked. Then they get sealed in front of us, and that seal can only be broken with a wire cutter, like if there’s a recount or something. At this point, everything is put in a safe in the Waldoboro Town Office. I don’t how long they are kept, but nobody can get in there.
Well, back to that 2000 election? We knew we’d done it right. Everyone there knew it was right. I grew up knowing that right is right, and wrong is wrong. As I used to tell my kids, “You know your right from your left, and your left from your right. And you know right from wrong.” And now my kids tell that back to me.
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