POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Polk County election workers like Karen Roach pick-up everything needed for an election before voters even head to the polls.
"We want to make sure that everything is set up and ready to go," said Roach, Precinct Clerk Supervisor with the Polk County Supervisor of Elections Office.
"I’ve got the ballots, the poll lists, all my equipment to connect to the equipment that’s at the main site that I’ll be working at, all that’s vital for the election to be secure and to run it smoothly," said Roach who arrived at the warehouse Monday to collect all the supplies ahead of election day.
Poll workers prepare well ahead of time.
"It takes weeks because we have training that we have to go through and then they have to verify and test us to make sure we’ve learned what we need to and gotten all the training that’s required," said Roach who has been through a lot of training in her fifteen years working Polk County elections.
The longtime poll worker has made jewelry out of election tokens showing each time she's worked the polls.
She says participating in election day is a family tradition.
"We’ve always done community service things and this is part of the community, this is an important part, to keep things normal, to keep things safe and to make sure people have their right to vote," said Roach. "And I think it’s important you have people you can rely on to do that, that’s why I do it."
And Roach loves what she does.
"Getting out and helping people with the voting process, just making sure they’re in the right place that they get to vote and just meeting new people. I’ve been doing it so long I’ve met so many people," said Roach.
And this year, she'll meet even more people.
"It takes a lot of people to make this happen the right way and I love that," said Roach. "I love being a part of that."