Tuesday morning, January 31, 2023, found 95-year old Anne Bailey bundling up in her coat and making her way to the Colwell voting precinct for the Special Runoff Election.
Ms. Bailey has been a familiar face at the Fannin County voting polls since the late 1980s, when she started volunteering with her husband, Clyde Bailey.
Originally from Decatur, Georgia, the Baileys were no strangers to Fannin County before retiring to the area.
Years of family camping trips with their two children, Joel and Lisa, at Morganton Point Campground and the now decommissioned Green Creek Campground led the couple to start planning their retirement in Fannin County.
They bought their property in the Cashes Valley area of Fannin in 1975. At the time, the property was an overgrown wilderness.
“We went down through the weeds that were head high, across a little creek…and we decided that we’d buy it,” Bailey described.
They started clearing the property and building their log home in 1978, finishing in 1983.
After getting settled, the couple wanted to “do something useful.” Through “Meals on Wheels,” they met some of the individuals in charge of voter registration in Fannin County.
The couple went down to the old courthouse to find out more information, and the rest is history.
The Baileys started in the old Toccoa Precinct which used to be located in the old courthouse. According to Ms. Bailey, “meeting people” is her favorite part of working at the voter polls.
Describing her husband, Ms. Bailey said, “He was a people person, and so am I…we got to know so many people here in town.”
The Baileys continued working at the polls and eventually became polling precinct managers, training countless people.
One individual the couple trained was Mary Ann Conner the current Election Supervisor for Fannin County. “She does such a good job,” Ms. Bailey praised.
When asked if Ms. Bailey had any juicy stories, she responded, “Do I!”
“Most of the crazy stories happened in the old courthouse,” exclaimed Ms. Bailey.
“Now, I’m not going to name names...,” she slyly said before recounting a story of a pair of sisters who “caused a stink” and refused to exit out the designated door, which was the back door, as requested.
“That was something else,” Ms. Bailey said. “We had done it for a purpose. It wasn’t like we were being mean to them, making them go out the back door and around.”
And another story about a gentleman who “raised cane” because he thought they “cheated” him out of his vote.
Eventually, the sheriff was called in. It turned out he was talking and not paying attention when he dropped his ballot in the box and could not remember doing it. “We made sure his ballot counted.”
Now-a-days we have electronic voting machines, which makes election poll workers jobs a little easier. Prior, when paper ballots were still the norm, “We had a lot of work to do once the polls closed.”
She described hand counting the ballots and checking voter registration by hand in large books, “That was a pain.” Ms. Bailey joked.
She described having to check voters information in large books.
With the electronic voting machines, it may be easier to count the votes, but according to Ms. Bailey, poll workers are still responsible for making sure they are on and working properly. “It helps having technicians from the machine company to help keep things running smoothly.”
Mr. Bailey passed away in 2015, but Ms. Bailey continues working at the election polls.
She now works at the Colwell precinct as it is closer to her home. “Please give me the job of sitting,” she requested. She makes sure voters have the proper I.D. and helps people fill out the registration sheet. “Make sure they are who they say they are!”
When she is not working the election poles, Ms. Bailey is active in her church The Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church and tries to keep moving. “If I keep going, I won’t lie down and die,” she exclaimed.
As far as advice for voters, Ms. Bailey has two wisdoms she would like to impart. The first is to have patience! “It has gotten to the point where we have got it so organized now that if you do have a line that you have to stand in, just have a little patience and you will be worked through as quickly as possible,” Ms. Bailey advised.
And the other is more of a plea to young people to go out and vote. “We had so few to come to vote it just broke my heart,” Ms. Bailey lamented. She would like for children as a whole to be taught more about their place in government and the influence they could have on our elected officials.
“The young people are the future of our country.”