'I dreamed I slept through...election time'

GAINESVILLE - The woman who oversaw this year's elections in Hall County - for the first time in her career - says she was so consumed in getting ready for the big day and the voting leading up to Election Day that she dreamed about the election "three or four times a week." And, Charlotte Sosebee-Hunter says, in fact, she had one especially troubling nightmare.

"One particular night, I dreamed that I slept through the election time and the (county) commissioners were calling our office to find out why the results weren't coming in as fast as they should have been," she said laughing. Sosebee-Hunter says that in addition to dreaming about the election a lot, she also lost a lot of sleep the past few weeks worrying about how things were going to turn out... not the results of any of the elections but how smoothly the who process of holding the election, with her in charge, would go.

The veteran elections office employee, who was named interim director of elections two years ago when Anne Phillips Lea retired, paused Monday to reflect on the first big test of her ability to handle the job, likening it to suddenly find yourself driving a car.

"It's like being the driver of a car instead of a passenger," she said.

She admitted it's "very intimidating" to suddenly be in charge and with all the responsibilities that go with something as important as an election. But, she says, she made it and "I'm starting to see my desk (again)." She added she was a "little bit surprised" at how well things went with early and advance voting, given some of the problems and extremely long lines in some metro Atlanta counties.

Sosebee-Hunter says much of the credit for how smoothly things ran in Hall County goes to Lea, who had "trained us so very well here that I believe we were able to handle some of the things that a lot of counties were not prepared for."

Apparently county commissioners are satisfied with the way things went. Monday, they decided to ask the county's Superior Court judges that the word "interim" be removed for Sosebee-Hunter's title and that she be named to fill the slot on a permanent basis. The judges, through Chief Judge C. Andrew Fuller, are charged with making the appointment. (See separate story.)

Sosebee-Hunter says the office had to hire an extra "thirty to forty" poll workers for Election Day not to mention the "12 to 15" extra workers who were brought in for early voting, which began in mid-September, and advance voting, which was held the week prior to the election. But, she says she had no trouble filling the necessary slots and, in fact, is still getting applications from people who want to be poll workers.

And, yes, all of this means an added cost to the county but Sosebee-Hunter said the final figures are not in yet. Nevertheless, "we are probably going to go over our budget this year," she said.

Sosebee-Hunter praised county commissioners and other county officials for the foresight in moving the voter registration and elections office to their new home on Browns Bridge Road when they did... last December.

"I just cannot even imagine what we would (have had to deal) with at the former location," she said Monday. "It was just (maximum) capacity in 2004 and '06 and I just can't imagine having seven touchscreen units at that location and handling the number of voters we had during that period (early and advance voting)."

Parking would have been a nightmare, too, she added.

"It would have been crazy. I believe there would have been a lot of people parking at the mall (Lakeshore Mall) and it would have (interfered) with their parking, as well." The parking at the new site, a shopping center which housed a supermarket and Wal-Mart when it originally opened, is more than adequate, she said.

"I'm just thankful that we were proactive in deciding on a "new) location for our offices and being able to have a place to even house our equipment.," Sosebee-Hunter said.

She says she feels "pretty good" now that she has her first major election under her belt, and "since we tackled this one, (I feel) we can handle anything."