Community Outreach Tops Agenda for Kherri Anderson in Martin County FL

To say the Deputy for Community Outreach in Martin County, Florida takes her job seriously would be one of the greatest understatements of all time. Kherri Anderson not only takes her job of spreading the news about the Martin County Supervisor of Elections activities seriously, but she is also hands-on to every aspect of the entire election efforts for this Florida county.

One of the most favorite things Kherri does is to become the Storyteller. It's a title that she wears with pride and explains in this episode of the Great American Senior Show. 

Transcript

Sam Yates: 0:11

Hello, everyone and welcome to another edition of The Great American Senior Show. I'm your gray haired host, Sam Yates and today I am back at the Martin County Supervisor of Elections Office with me, Kherri Anderson, and Kherri, you have a lot of different titles than before I get into the title such as storyteller right hand person, the person that makes everything run smoothly. Tell us about yourself. Well,

Kherri Anderson: 0:38

hi Sam, thank you so much for having me on your show this morning. My name is Carrie Anderson. I am born and raised in the greatest place in the state of Florida, which is Martin County. I always love to say I only left to go to college and came right back home. I am the product of retired educators. Most people know my family as the Anderson family. I graduated from Salford high school and from Salford high school I went to Indian River when it was still yet a community college, finished my two years then transferred to Florida Atlantic University where I did finish my degree in communications and came right back home to Martin County. And I've enjoyed every moment since then of working with the Martin County Supervisor of Elections Office.

Sam Yates: 1:23

How long have you been here with the office,

Kherri Anderson: 1:25

Halloween will make 17 years that I've had the opportunity to serve with our Martin County Supervisor of Elections.

Sam Yates: 1:32

Now the Halloween touch was just coincidental, but it makes it hard to miss your anniversary.

Kherri Anderson: 1:37

It was it was coincidental, but it definitely makes it hard to miss my anniversary here and I definitely make sure everyone remembers Halloween is the day that I started working here.

Sam Yates: 1:49

When I first started the program here I mentioned story teller. That is something that you wear as a badge of the storyteller badge quite proudly. Tell us about it.

Kherri Anderson: 2:00

Well, let me tell you how it started while I was in college and my last semester at Florida Atlantic University. In order to finish and complete my degree, I needed one additional elective. So I spoke with a counselor to try to find out what elective I could possibly take in order to finish my degree in time and she suggested a storytelling class. Well, I fell in love with the storytelling class. And according to my professor, I became so proficient that at the time, our president of the college was none other than our very own Martin County. Frank T. Brogan, and President Brogan at that time would invite me over to Baldwin mansion every time he had guest at the mansion to tell stories to entertain them while they were visiting him. And it was something that I really love to do. And I enjoyed.

Sam Yates: 2:53

And I have to tell our audience that when she says she enjoys it, if you could see the sparkle in her eyes and the smile on her face as she talks about storytelling. It's a testament to exactly how much she does enjoy it. It's contagious to I have to say that thank you, Sam,

Kherri Anderson: 3:10

I really do. And now I tell the election story, getting people out there so that they know what's going on in the upcoming election cycle, making sure that they are election ready, also answering any questions that they may have letting them know that here at the elections office, we are your trusted source of information so that you have everything that you need when it's time to go to the polls.

Sam Yates: 3:32

One of the things that that struck me in hearing you do a presentation recently was the fact that this is not a nine to five job, you are

Kherri Anderson: 3:41

absolutely correct. One thing about our supervisor of elections, she keeps an open door policy. And our job is to serve the voters of Martin County. It's not just Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm. It's whenever our voters in this community need us if you need us in the evening, because that's the best time to reach individuals and your community and your homeowner associations. We're happy to be there. If you need us on a Sunday, we love to visit houses of worships because that's where people are in their house of worship. We are there on Sunday mornings for early service midday or evening services. We are happy to serve our community when and however they need us. So if it's in the evening, it says on the weekend, we're there and we're happy to be there.

Sam Yates: 4:27

Which brings me to the point that a lot of people look at perhaps the elections office is something that is active around elections. It's a year round almost that in many cases sometimes as close to 365 days a year as possible because you have lots of things to do to prepare for the election.

Kherri Anderson: 4:45

We do we have lots of things to do to prepare for election. A part of my job as voter outreach and education is to make sure we're getting that information out to our voters as soon as possible. Well we know the next day election isn't until August. But we do realize a lot of our voters are snowbirds, some of them with Easter now being gone, they'll be returning up north. So our job is to start early, providing them with information such as are you going to be voting by mail, let us provide you with information. So you can get those vote by mail request in. So we know we're sending it to the address of where you will be as a voter, because as we know, mail ballots are not forwardable, we must have the address of where you're going to be. So we're out there communicating that information early. Also, in addition to that, I also train and recruit election workers. So we can never stop doing that job because there's always a need to have additional people at our polling precincts with smiles on their face ready to serve our voters at 7am when they come into those polling precincts.

Sam Yates: 5:54

And that means getting there at what time Oh, that means that you

Kherri Anderson: 5:57

arrive Election Day at 5:45am. And as I tell my election workers with a great big smile on your face, ready to serve the voters of Martin County,

Sam Yates: 6:09

you know, with the voters of Martin County, there are some deadlines that are coming up. And depending on whether you're listening to this, before those deadlines, or after the deadlines, recap them for us.

Kherri Anderson: 6:22

Sure. Well, there are some deadlines that are going to be coming up. And it's very important for voters to know the first deadline that we have coming up is the last day to register to vote as a first time voter in the state of Florida, or to make changes to your political party affiliation. And that's going to be July the 25th. It's important to know because Florida is what we call a closed primary state, which simply means you're going to be issued a ballot in the primary election based on your political party affiliation. So if you would like to make changes to your political party affiliation, you must do so by the deadline, which would be July 25. As well, if you just moved to Florida, you just got here to this beautiful sunshine state. As we hear people are coming in every day, you want to make sure if you want to have a say in the upcoming August election, you must register to vote by that deadline so that you can have a say in the upcoming August election.

Sam Yates: 7:26

We are out several years from the last presidential election where we had a phenomenal turnout from all accounts throughout the entire state of Florida. Are you finding enthusiasm, still high enthusiasm for people to get out and vote here in the Martin County area?

Kherri Anderson: 7:46

We are the great thing about our county is that our voters are very active. And they definitely want to have a say in the process. No matter what the state averages for an election. Martin County always excels that state average because our voters understand they understand it's their right to vote and they don't want to miss that opportunity. Whether they're voting by mail, whether they're voting early, or they're that traditional voter who wants to wait until election day, they want to have a say and that's a great thing. And that's what we love about our voters here.

Sam Yates: 8:19

For the voters who may be senior citizens in a facility, whether it's independent assisted living facility, or what their status may be, you do outreach to facilities to make sure even those who are not living in their homes have an opportunity to vote.

Kherri Anderson: 8:36

I'm so glad you mentioned that, Sam, that's an excellent point we do. We do outreach to all assisted livings and nursing homes in Martin County. The reason we visit those facilities is those individuals still have an opportunity and a right to have a vote. But as we know, they can't leave those facilities. So our job is to come to them. We visit those facilities, we take the time to update their signatures. You might ask well, why are you updating their signatures? Well, if you vote by mail, that's how we verify who you are. And most individuals who are now in those facilities, their signatures may have changed. Even if your signature now is a squiggly line, we must have that most current and updated signature on file. So when that vote by mail ballot comes back here to the office and individuals who are verifying those ballots look and see they can verify that signature because you have now updated it in addition to going out to visiting them to update signatures as well as addresses because most of them have sold their homes and now their residential addresses that assisted living or that a nursing home. We also come back out to do supervised voting, which means we come out there we bring their ballots they have their privacy so that they can vote however they wish to vote After they're done, they place their ballots back in their sealed envelope, they sign them and we bring them back here to the elections office. And they have an opportunity to vote however they wish in privacy would supervise voting from our elections office. So we love our outreach to our nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Because our job is to make sure everyone has that opportunity, and no one is left behind

Sam Yates: 10:26

when we talk about voting, and that is one important aspect of the outreach, trying to get people in to the process. I know that from seniors the other side of that is those who are in the younger ages, who may not know exactly how to do things. Tell us about that. Because there also is an opportunity for our younger generation to volunteer

Kherri Anderson: 10:52

there is and we love our younger generation. As you know, they are the reason that the process will continue to go on. So we have the opportunity every year which we are required by Florida statute to visit each high school campus in Martin County, as well as any local college or university. And for us, it's Indian River State College, the Chasteen campus where we are on those campuses, pre registering and registering students to vote. Some people may say, Well, what is a pre registered voter? What does that mean? Well, Florida law tells us at the age of 16, or 17, a student may pre register to vote. Now that doesn't make them eligible to go to the polls for the next election to vote. But by pre registering to vote, when you're 18 years old, we automatically mail that voter card to that student, and they are now ready to cast their vote. The beauty of going out to the campuses is we come out there and we talk about the voting process. We answer any questions that they have. And then we walk the students through the application form. Some students will say, Well, you know, I'm not ready to declare a political party. And that's fine. It's your right, we always just let them know that whenever you are ready to declare a political party, contact the elections office, and we will be more than happy to assist you. But a lot of those students who we recruit, to go ahead and get registered to vote also become election workers. The law says at the age of 16, and 17. If you've pre registered to vote, you are eligible to work the polls on Election Day. And in Martin County, we have an excellent partnership with our Martin County School District, where any student who is pre registered to vote who works the polls on Election Day or works during early voting receives an excused absence from school, because they are participating in the civics process. They're watching it live. And at the end, they are required to write a one page paper about their experience. And it's amazing when you hear what the students say. They always say I never realized how much fun this could be all the people who come out to vote, I have a new appreciation for the process. I can't wait until I'm 18. So I then too, can vote. And their parents are so excited to drop them off election morning and see that their kids want to take an active role in the process. We've even had students that once they've graduated, if they stay local, they still remain election workers. So our polling precincts are made up of that mixed generation of our young as well as seasoned workers and our voters even comment on how they love seeing that at the precincts.

Sam Yates: 13:39

For anyone who is interested in being a poll worker interested in working on election day. Yes. How can they go about doing that

Kherri Anderson: 13:49

anyone can join our team. It doesn't have to be a student. It can be anyone as long as you are a registered voter. There are two ways you can do it. You can visit our website at Martin votes.gov. Again, that's Martin votes.gov. You can call our office at 772-288-5637. Or you can just stop by the elections office and we're located right here in the downtown Stuart area. 135 se Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard, fill out an application we will contact you when we can promise you that we'd love to have you on our election day team. It's a paid position. It is a paid position. Most people thought it was simply voluntary, but based on the position that you are assigned to and there are several positions that once you sign up, we walk through those positions with you to find out which one best suits where you would feel comfortable serving the public. You will earn anywhere between 150 to $200 for the day, and in Martin County, you go home with your paycheck election night. That's not the say in all of the counties in the state of Florida.

Sam Yates: 14:55

Now I know that there's a lot of information here and And it's a daunting task. But you have taken that task one step further recently in Orlando, teaching what you know and helping others get into the process from an elections office standpoint. Tell us about that.

Kherri Anderson: 15:15

Well, I had the great opportunity our state association, it's the Florida supervisors of elections Association. They offer a class in which they encourage all supervisors of elections and all 67 counties, and staff members to sign up to learn about more of the elections process and every aspect from outreach to check in to maintaining equipment to voter Records and Registration. I had the opportunity of teaching our outreach and voter education program. And we just did that yesterday in Orlando, it was wonderful to see elections officials from several counties, 60 individuals who were in the class, and a great time of brainstorming ideas. As you know, all counties are not the same size. We have small counties, we have medium size, which Martin County is considered, and you have your large counties like your Miami Dade and Duvall. So everyone can bring something different to the table. But the beauty is we can all find something out we will, from what we learn to put in our toolkit back in our individual counties to increase our outreach efforts and to bring more awareness to the elections process and the upcoming elections.

Sam Yates: 16:29

We do have some legislation that's causing some people to scratch their head and go I'm not quite sure what's going to happen on election day, a Senate Bill, give us a brief overview of what that is. It's it's pretty extensive. So I'm not down into the details. But there are some changes.

Kherri Anderson: 16:46

Yes. So there were changes last year, Senate Bill 90 went into effect. And the changes that are really affecting voters that we're really trying to communicate the message to right now is making sure that the elections office has either the last four digits of your social security number, or driver's license number on record, so that when you call us to request a mail ballot, if you choose to vote by mail, we must verify which we have of record, whether it be the last four of your social or your driver's license number. Now, there are some individuals who were registered to vote many, many years ago when it was not required to have the last four have their social or driver's license number. So we've done mass mailings to those individuals just to reach out to them to let them know, we need to have that information on file by you now updating your voter information by filling out a new voter registration form. So that information is on file so that when you call our office to request a ballot, we're going to look and see which we have of record, either the last form of social security number or your driver's license number, and have you verify that and then we will be happy to fill out that request for you to receive a ballot by mail.

Sam Yates: 18:06

One more time, how many people contact the office?

Kherri Anderson: 18:09

Well, let me tell you how you can contact our office, we love for you to come by and visit because this is your elections office, we would love to take you on a tour anytime so you can see what we're doing to ensure that your one vote is safe and secure. So how do you do that come to the elections office. We're located at 135 South East Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard in downtown Stuart. Well, you might say I can't stop by but I do have a couple of questions. I might have guessed what our website has a wealth of information and it's user friendly. So you can visit us at www dot Marton. votes.gov. Or if you want to talk to us and we would love to talk to you. You can call us at 77228885637 Our office hours are Monday through Friday 8am to 5pm There's always someone here ready to greet you or answer the phone and answer any of your questions.

Sam Yates: 19:09

And ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you that if you would like to hear this vibrant, outgoing person in person, you also do visits to the community homeowners associations, organizations, they want to see you if you

Kherri Anderson: 19:22

want to see us just give me a call. We love coming to your community. We want to come out to your homeowners associations. We want to come to your houses of worships. We want to come to your community festivals to your schools. Any event that you're having where you like voter information, voter education questions answered information provided we are happy to serve you so please do not hesitate in contacting us because that's our job. We're here to serve the greatest voters in the state of Florida and those are the voters of Martin County. Wow.

Sam Yates: 19:55

Ladies and gentlemen. Kerry has made her mark today, Korea President, thank you very much for being here on the program today and we would like to have you back at some point in the

Kherri Anderson: 20:05

future. I welcome that invitation anytime you'd like to have us back, Sam.

Sam Yates: 20:09

Awesome. I'm looking forward to it. And until we come back for another episode here with the Martin County Supervisor of Elections Office. I am Sam Yates, your gray haired host of The Great American Senior Show. And that's the way our program ends.