Edmee Rodriguez/Sun Photo
election advocate ... Jina Shortino has served as a poll worker in Johnson County since 2002.
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Poll worker: 'I wouldn't miss an election for the world'
By: Chuck Kurtz, Staff Writer
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Patriot. Flag waver. Enthusiastic supporter of democracy. There is no question that Jina Shortino, Overland Park, is red, white and blue through and through.
Shortino, 56, is just one of the more than 1,800 election workers needed to help man Johnson County polling precincts during the Aug. 5 and Nov. 4 elections. She has been an election worker since the 2002 general election.
Her patriotism has been highly charged ever since she worked in support of John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1960. Of course, she was younger then – a lot younger.
“I was about 10,” she recalled. “I did things like stuffing envelopes, swept the floor, as if sweeping the floor was going to help get him elected. Then I rode my bicycle down the street yelling, ‘JFK! Yes he can! Nixon’s in the garbage can!’”
Shortino laughed, but her excitement for the democratic process is as fervent now, if not greater.
“Voting is the most important thing people can do in America,” she said. “I get excited every election – every election.”
Now, Shortino is an election worker supervisor, said Tom Ray, assistant election director of voting locations and staffing for the Johnson County Election Office. Ray said about 300 workers are still needed for the upcoming elections.
“In a presidential election year, we will need that many to staff our polling precincts,” he said.
“We have several election workers, such as Jina, who have been working elections for many years, and we appreciate each of them for what they do.”
Shortino, a textile conservation technician with Ward & Ward Custom Picture Framing in Kansas City, Mo., met Ray at a company Christmas party in 2001. She still remembers the conversation.
“I asked him what he did for a living,” she said. “When he told me he worked for the election office, I said, ‘Oh my God! What an exciting job that has to be!’ He told me he usually didn’t get a response like that from people.
“Then he asked me if I would be interested in being an election worker and go to a training session.”
Shortino’s answer: an enthusiastic yes. When the next election rolled around in 2002, Ray followed through and gave her a call. She has worked every election since.
“I wouldn’t miss an election for the world,” Shortino said. “I have to take off work, but my boss understands. It’s exciting; I really love it.”
Depending on the election, what candidates are running, and what issues are on the ballot, some election days can be long while others can be extremely busy. There can be rush-hour voters, people coming in to cast ballots early in the morning, then again during the lunch hour, and again at night when people get off work.
Shortino remembers the thrill of voting the first time, and now watching the excitement of young first-time voters remains the highlight of her election worker career.
“That’s the one thing that will always stand out in my mind,” she said. “When a teen who is a first-time voter comes in, I think that’s just wonderful. Sometimes they bring a camera with them and ask us to take their picture of them voting for the first time, and then when they have finished voting, our group of workers always applauds them.
“I get chills now just thinking about it. I think that’s wonderful.”
Shortino highly recommends people work on election day.
“It’s a very simple way to perform a patriotic duty,” she said. “It’s not a huge sacrifice for us to take a day to do it; that’s what America is all about.”
Contact Chuck Kurtz at 385-6009 or chuckkurtz@npgco.com.