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The Rockingham County Board of Elections — of which I am a member — has a new home, and the public is invited to check it out at an open house next week.

Once housed in the county’s Governmental Center in Wentworth, the elections office has moved to 240 Cherokee Camp Road, behind the Governmental Center and beside the new Rockingham County Animal Shelter.

The open house is planned from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. June 23.

“The move has been a long time coming,” says Janet Odell, director of the Board of Elections.

It’s not the first time the board, organized in 1972, has moved. Odell remembers the first meeting on the back seat of a car. Staff next met in a tiny room in the old courthouse in Wentworth. In 1981-1982, home was in the old jail across from the courthouse. Equipment needed for elections was stored in an old coal bin at the jail.

Many Rockingham residents and candidates will remember election night at the old courthouse. Votes were called in by telephone and written on a chalkboard for the audience to see. Then came overhead projectors and transparencies.

The board moved to the Governmental Center’s second floor in 1987. After two moves on the hall, the staff settled in two rooms divided by a brick wall. On election nights, results were phoned in to the board’s office, taken to the nearby commissioner’s meeting room and recorded on transparencies and overheads.

Election nights grew long, and for candidates, the wait must have seemed forever. Large crowds mingled in the room for hours waiting for results.

From 2006 to 2008, the State Board of Elections offered software programs to enhance the flow of results on election night. Precinct officials could now take a tape to the board’s office, where the staff slipped it into a computer and, instantly, results showed up on a screen in the commissioner’s room. Few people wait in Wentworth for results anymore. They can get instant Internet results at home.

Over the years, finding secure housing for elections equipment has been an ongoing security concern. In 2007, voter equipment was kept in a window-lined basement in the old Wentworth Elementary School. The three present members of the Board of Elections — Chairman Gene Robertson, Toni Reece and I — were instrumental in finding a more permanent warehouse space behind the new Cherokee Road office.

Odell said that the Governmental Center Maintenance Department helped move the equipment to the warehouse. The maintenance team also handles the heavy equipment move to all the precincts on election days and returns it to the warehouse on trucks. Chief judges can now back their cars up to the secured warehouse to receive their election materials.      

Some 200 people serve as election workers in Rockingham County. Some of them will be on hand to welcome guests at the open house, as well as help serve light refreshments. The staff — Odell; Tina Cardwell, senior deputy director; and Susan Baker, deputy — will welcome guests as will board members, who serve two-year terms appointed by local party chairmen. The State Board of Elections approves the nominations.

The purpose of the elections office is to facilitate all facets of the voting process. Precinct workers attend many hours of training before they serve. A computer room is available for phone banks. Anyone can come in the office any day of the week to register to vote.

Candidates must file by a set time to run for office. The staff instructs candidates on state rules. Political action committees also file in the elections office. Local party chairmen are instructed as to how to perform some of their duties, including finding people to nominate for precinct positions during elections. One Stop voting will be held in the office this year. 

There will be plenty of extended parking at the new Rockingham County Animal Shelter next door to the elections office on June 23. The office has come a long way, and the staff is anxious to show it off during the open house.

Eden native Rachel Wright is retired as a Morehead High School teacher and RCC instructor.