Long-time Manatee elections employee has seen lots of changes in voting | Opinion

This week the Manatee County Supervisor of Elections honors Chief Deputy, Sharon Stief, who has been instrumental in more than 100 nationwide, statewide, municipal and special elections since 1991. We congratulate Sharon on 30 years of exemplary service and dedication to the voters of Manatee County.

Sharon began her 30-year career with the elections office as a deputy registrar in the records department. She subsequently worked in the poll worker department and as the absentee voter coordinator before rising to the chief deputy position more than 13 years ago. As do the other 66 supervisors of elections in Florida, the supervisor and assistant supervisor depend greatly on the chief deputy for their knowledge of voting equipment and election law, ability to manage questions from every department, candidates, media, and voters, along with an immense working knowledge of the election process. As our chief deputy, Sharon’s patience and personal integrity are also skills that are indispensable and very much appreciated.

Back when Sharon started in 1991, voters used a punch card system with their votes being tabulated at the elections office, not at the precincts as is done today.

Sharon said, “The ballots in those days looked similar to an IBM 3” x 10” punch card. The machine a voter used at the polls was a Datavote Marking Device, it had a large silver handle that slid up and down along the side of the ballot. To mark their ballot, a voter pressed down on the handle to punch a hole on the edge of the card. Ballots were then transported to the elections office at the close of the election day and inserted into a machine to tally votes. In 1996 we went to the Accu-Vote tabulators which counted the votes at the precincts, a new exciting process! These were phased out in 2014 when the present DS 200 tabulators were put into service.”

Sharon has seen many changes at the elections office over the past three decades. For example, early voting did not come into existence until 2002 and it was held at only one location, the elections office, then located in downtown Bradenton at Third Avenue and 14th Street.

“Instead of early voting, at that time it was called ‘in office absentee voting.’ After a voter signed in, we did what was called a ‘pick and pull’ where a poll worker would look through 70 or 80 different ballot types to find the specific ballot style required for that voter. This took several minutes as you can imagine. We now use ‘ballot on demand,’ which prints the ballot after a voter signs in at early voting. Quite a difference from the early days and so much faster, and more efficient. Another big change was the elections office moving from downtown Bradenton to our current location next to the Manatee County Sheriff’s office,” said Chief Stief.

Since most voters only see one or two elections every two to four years, Sharon has had many people ask what she does between elections.

“This always makes me laugh a little. If you have never worked here or been a poll worker or canvassing board member, there is no way of knowing all the moving parts of each election. We have at least three scheduled elections every year. When we are not preparing for then conducting major elections like a primary or general, we are doing so for municipal elections like Longboat Key and the island elections each year. And, of course, we are always registering new voters, and processing changes for current voters. Thankfully, many processes have become more stream-lined with computers over the years, but the work is the same for each election,” Sharon said.

At times, the work can be stressful, but Sharon greets each day with a smile and a willingness to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Her skills and experience are a tremendous asset to our office. And while it takes every one of our staff members, plus several hundred poll workers, and a number of canvassing board members to successfully prepare for and conduct any election, Sharon’s innumerable contributions and efforts over 30 years are legend in these parts.

On behalf of the entire staff as well as the voters of Manatee County, THANK YOU Sharon Stief!

Mike Bennett is the supervisor of elections for Manatee County

This story was originally published March 18, 2021 at 6:00 AM.