Election workers deserve recognition for their efforts

The shores of municipal water supplies are municipal property, and often city officials allow a band of vegetation to grow up along the shoreline to reduce the amount of lawn and farm fertilizer that makes its way into the water. This helps reduce levels of nitrates and toxic algae in public water supplies.

But waterfront homeowners in Columbus complained that these strips inhibit their views and access to the water; they said they were being hounded for mowing the grass, building docks and making other alterations to the shoreline.

“People were being harassed by city of Columbus Division of Water folks,” said Sen. Kris Jordan, R-Ostrander, who was among the lawmakers who successfully added a provision to the most recent state budget that allows homeowners to mow and make other changes along the shoreline.

That is a mistake. Cities

around the state, including Columbus, are experiencing repeated problems with unsafe nitrate levels and toxic algae. They have gone to court to try to undo the budget provision.

Rather than wait for the Franklin County Common Pleas Court to fix this mistake, Leland and Stinziano, both Democrats, would restore municipal control of the buffer zones.

At a committee hearing, Stinziano said Columbus officials have assured him that the situation with the “off-putting” Columbus employee has been dealt with.

Ask James Ray Thornwell Jr. if he votes in every election, and he answers before the last syllable is out: “Oh, yes,” he said. “That goes back to my grandmother’s time; she’s 96 and never misses an election.”

Thornwell considers voting so important that he doesn’t just show up: He is one of a small army of election trainers who work long hours throughout the year making sure thousands of poll workers know how to run computerized voting machines, handle provisional ballots and conduct an election according to everevolving rules.

Until recently, these patriots went unheralded. That changed this year as the Franklin County Board of Elections recognized 41 trainers. The inaugural Legacy of Trainers Dinner was held on Wednesday.

Thornwell, 59, who has worked the polls for a quarter of a century, was among a handful honored. He’s known for his posters: Each election, he buys stacks of poster boards and heads to a copying service to enlarge the instructions. Many of the poll workers he trains are older, some aged 70 to 90, he said, and he enlarges the smaller print of the training books to make the material easier to learn.

This dedication is exemplary, but it’s not uncommon. It would not be possible to hold an election without each of the 41 trainers who were honored.

Thornwell, of Blacklick, won two top awards, one for outstanding trainer of the current election cycle and the other for lifetime achievement.

Congratulations to all of the honorees. And thank you.