Voters, even a ‘witch’ made job interesting

By Erin McGrath

Published: November 19, 2008

As Nelson County’s voter registrar for the past 14 years, Lisa Wooten has seen some strange things.

From firehouse primaries to witches demanding to vote, Wooten, of Lovingston, said she has had her share of interesting experiences in Nelson but is now ready to move on to new challenges.

After a historic election in which Nelson had a record number of registered voters, Wooten is leaving the county to become the voter registrar for the City of Waynesboro.

“I’m ready for a little different challenge I think,” Wooten said. “A city’s going to be totally different. They have a city council, where we have a board of supervisors. Their elections are held in May, they’re not held in November.”

The witch episode ranks as one of the stranger experiences.

“We had a witch in the county and she didn’t want to show ID when she showed up at the polls,” Wooten said. “She didn’t have any on her and she didn’t want to cooperate with the election officials to even sign off on anything swearing who she was.”

The woman left the polling place, and a half-hour later, Wooten said she the woman called and complained.

“She told me who she was and that she was a witch,” she said. “Then she put a spell on me. And I’m still here. I listened to it awhile and then I just politely hung up. I couldn’t understand half of it.”

Wooten said she has also seen some “crazy” write-in candidates on ballots.

“Chocolate cake,’ ‘none of the above,’ cartoon characters and Santa Claus. Why waste your vote?” she said.

Wooten is leaving the 10,722 registered voters in Nelson for the nearly 13,000 registered voters in Waynesboro, is trading the 10 precincts for just four and two voting systems for one.

“I’m looking forward to it,” she said. “I’m excited.”

Wooten began working for the voter registration office in Nelson part-time in 1987. She was the assistant registrar for eight years before applying for the position of general registrar.

“I applied along with about 100 other people and they interviewed me and hired me in 1995,” she said.

In the two decades Wooten has worked for the registrar’s office, she has also seen the voting system evolve in the county.

“The difference from the day I came in here to what it’s like now, so much has changed,” she said. “When I first started here, we did everything on paper. As you get into the job and start learning what it’s all about, it’s more interesting. It’s just a constant evolution in all of this and it’s been a good thing.”

Voter cards have been adopted since Wooten started working in the voter registrar’s office, and the equipment voters use to cast their ballots has changed as well.

“When I first was here, it was the big dinosaur lever thing and when you finished all your voting, you put the big red lever down and the bell went off and you were done. Not anymore,” she said.

Wooten said she’ll miss Nelson people the most.

“I’m just hoping Waynesboro folks are just as good as Nelson County,” she said.

The voter registrar position in Waynesboro is a four-year appointment. Wooten said she plans to work as a voter registrar until she retires.

“I’m in it for the long haul as long as they want to keep me,” she said.