Laura Wooten

Last updated

Laura Wooten (December 19, 1920 - March 24, 2019) was the longest-serving poll worker in Mercer County and the state of New Jersey. She was also believed to be the longest-serving poll worker in the United States with a record of 79 continuous years of volunteering at the polls on Election Day. Wooten's dedication to working at the polls has inspired a new generation of voting rights advocates, including at Princeton University, where she worked part time until her death.

Contents

Laura Wooten
Laura Wooten.jpg
Born
Laura Mitnaul

(1920-12-19)December 19, 1920
Goldsboro, NC
DiedMarch 24, 2019(2019-03-24) (aged 98)
Lawrence Township, NJ
Occupation(s)nurse's assistant
food service worker
Employer(s) Princeton Medical Center
Princeton University
Known forlongest continuously-serving poll worker in the United States
Spouse(s)Chester E. Wooten, Sr.
Children5

Early life and family

Wooten was born in on December 19, 1920, in Goldsboro, North Carolina to Oscar and Leora Mitnaul, just months after the Nineteenth Amendment granted women the right to vote. [1] Her family moved to Princeton, New Jersey when she was four years old. [2] She grew up in the John-Witherspoon section of Princeton, which is a historically Black neighborhood. [2] The neighborhood was named after John Witherspoon, a slave owner and former president of Princeton University. [3]

Princeton was still an emerging town when Wooten was a child. In previous interviews, Wooten described horses and carriages going down Nassau Street and a trolley running from Witherspoon Street to the stores in Trenton, New Jersey. [4] The town was segregated during Wooten's upbringing. Princeton High School had been integrated in 1916, but Black and white children went to different primary schools. [5] The primary school for Black children was on Quarry Street, while white children had two public schools to choose from, as well as Catholic and private schools. [4] Wooten graduated from Princeton High School in 1939. [4] All Princeton schools were integrated in 1948, but racial inequities in the quality of education at Princeton High School have continued. [6] [7]

Wooten encountered sexism in addition to racism while growing up. She said in interviews that women's career options were limited at the time, so women mostly ended up doing housework. [8] Many of her female peers did laundry for Princeton University students. [8] The town of Princeton was in the shadow of Princeton University, which did not accept Black or female students until late in the 20th century and was known as the "southernmost Ivy. [9] [10] Meanwhile, Wooten's parents could not afford for her to go to college. [8] She remarked that as a woman, she never expected to have a high-paying career. [8]

Wooten was married to Chester E. Wooten, Sr., who died in 1990. [1] [11]  They had five children, 16 grandchildren, 31 great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild. [12]

Poll worker

Those who can't dedicate the day, I say the least you can do is vote. Vote every time. Let nothing and no one stop you because your vote is your voice. It's the route — sometimes the very slow route — but, the only sure route, to change.

— Laura Wooten in an interview with NBC News [13]

Poll workers like Wooten perform a variety of jobs that are essential to elections operating smoothly. 917,694 people served as poll workers in the 2016 presidential election, helping operate 116,990 polling locations. [13] Approximately 56 percent of those poll workers were older than 61 and close to a quarter were older than 71. [13] Almost half of election administrators surveyed in the 2016 biennial Election Administration and Voting Survey reported that recruiting enough poll workers is either very difficult or somewhat difficult, especially in large population centers. [13]

Recognizing the need for diligent and dedicated poll workers, Wooten worked at the polls for most of her life. In 1939, Wooten's uncle Anderson Mitnaul, a Republican who was running for justice of the peace, persuaded her to work as a challenger at the polls for the first time. [2] Her polling location at the time was the YMCA, which was then known as "the Colored Y". [2] Today, the red brick building is the Paul Robeson Center for the Arts, which houses the Princeton Arts Council. [2] That first time, Wooten worked as a challenger and earned $10 for checking voters off a registration list. [4] [14] A driver would take the list from her at the end of the day and visit each unchecked voter's house to pick them up and drive them to the polls. [4] Voters used paper ballots, and Wooten and other poll workers would count the votes by hand because there were not any machines to tally the votes. [4]

Wooten's commitment to serving as a poll worker was so strong that she worked at the polls on Election Day for 79 straight years. [13] The Mercer County Board of Elections has confirmed that Wooten was the longest continuously serving poll worker in both the county and the state of New Jersey. [15] She is commonly believed to be the longest continuous poll worker in the history of the United States. [13] Wooten would often wake up as early as 4 a.m. to get ready for her job at the polls, and she would not return home until late at night. [12] On one Election Day, Wooten missed her ride to her polling location, so she walked instead to make sure she could still carry out her duties as a poll worker. [16]

Wooten also served a variety of other roles relating to voting, such as a crowd manager and a counter. [13] She previously recorded and delivered precinct results, and also served on a board of elections. [13] Before the 2016 election, Wooten expressed her hope that she would see a female president in her lifetime. [8] She strongly denounced the claims of election fraud that have become more common in recent years. [13]

Wooten received recognitions for her accomplishments from the New Jersey State Senate and Princeton Borough, as well of a variety of local and national organizations, including the National Association of Secretaries of States, the League of Women Voters of New Jersey, the Philadelphia Martin Luther King, Jr. Association for Nonviolence, the New Jersey chapter of the NAACP, and the National Newspaper Publishers Association, an association of over 200 African American–owned newspapers. [4] [17] Congressman Donald Payne Jr. of New Jersey honored Wooten on the floor of the House of Representatives on September 27, 2018. [18] He praised her for her dedication to America's voters and called her a role model for all. [18]

Career

Wooten was employed as a waitress before working at Princeton Medical Center for 18 years. [8] When she began working at the hospital, the workforce was segregated, with black employees required to work in either the kitchen or the supply center. [4] Wooten worked in the latter, where she washed medical supplies by hand. [4] After the hospital was integrated, Wooten worked as a nurse's assistant until her retirement in 1988. [4] In an interview, she said she did not remember the year that the hospital became integrated, but she credits the change to the results of people voting. [4] Wooten then became a teaching assistant at Community Park School. [19]

At the age of 72, Wooten began working for Princeton University as a food service worker in the dining hall of Butler College, one of six residential colleges that contain living and dining spaces. [4] She spent 27 years greeting students and swiping their meal cards to let them enter the dining hall. [4] Wooten often described her job in the dining halls as play instead of work. [15] At the ceremony for Princeton University's Hidden Chaplain Award, which goes to staff members who students nominate for playing a role in improving their college experience, one student wrote that Wooten was "more of a fixture of [their] Princeton experience than many of [their] professors" and that they hoped to be "half the community member that she seemed to be throughout her entire life." [20] Two of Wooten's grandsons also work at the university. [4]

Wooten moved to Lawrence Township, New Jersey after her husband died. [13] One of the first things she did after she moved was figure out how she could work at the polls in her new town. [13] She lived in her own apartment that was attached to her grandson's home. [13]

Death

Wooten claimed that her secret to a long life was eating healthy food and refraining from drinking alcohol and smoking. [4] She was still working at Princeton University when she died on March 24, 2019, at the age of 98. [4] Her last Election Day working at the polls was in 2018 at the Lawrence Road Firehouse polling station. [12]

Wooten's funeral took place on April 1, 2019, at the Princeton University Chapel. [15] Reverend William D. Carter of the First Baptist Church of Princeton, of which Wooten was an elder, led the service. [1] [15] In remembrance, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy called Wooten a "moral voice of the state". [12]

Legacy and Impact

In 2020, both chambers of the New Jersey legislature introduced a bill called Laura Wooten's Law that would require civics lessons in middle school. [21] The bill also instructs the New Jersey Center for Civic Education at Rutgers University to establish curriculum and professional development for social studies teachers. In the state Senate, the bill was introduced on January 14, 2020. It cleared the Senate Education Committee on February 13 with a vote of 5-0 and was referred to the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee. [21] [22] An identical bill was introduced in the New Jersey General Assembly on February 25 and was then referred to the Assembly Education Committee. [23] The New Jersey Education Association opposed the bill because state social studies standards already require civics lessons and they believed that there was not room in the school day for an extra class. [24]

Wooten's long history of voting rights advocacy inspired a group of students from Princeton University, as well as other college students and high school students, to begin the Poll Hero Project, an initiative that recruits young people to serve as poll workers. [25] The COVID-19 pandemic led to a shortage of poll workers across the country, especially because many typical poll workers are seniors like Wooten and they chose to stay home to preserve their health. [26] In order to fill the need for more poll workers, Poll Hero Project organized social media campaigns to convince young people to step in to work at the polls as Wooten did for so many years. [27] In total, Poll Hero Project's efforts led to over 37,000 high schoolers and college students working at the polls for the first time. [28] The founders of Poll Hero Project specifically cited Wooten as a reason for their dedication to recruiting young poll workers. [29]

Wooten was named an honorary member of the Princeton University Class of 2020 by the senior class. [30] The Laura Wooten Institute for Civic Engagement was founded in her honor. [30]

In the summer of 2021, The Council of the Princeton University Community (CPUC) Committee on Naming determined that a Princeton building formerly named Marx Hall should be renamed Laura Wooten Hall. [31] This renaming became effective on July 1, 2022, and was dedicated to Wooten to honor her contributions through her long tenure as a poll worker and to showcase the significance of voting for civic change. [32] This renaming also comes in the wake of the CPUC's commitment to diversity and inclusion being reflected in the honorific namings of places on the Princeton University campus. [32]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princeton, New Jersey</span> Borough in New Jersey, United States

Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of which are now defunct. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 30,681, an increase of 2,109 (+7.4%) from the 2010 census combined count of 28,572. In the 2000 census, the two communities had a total population of 30,230, with 14,203 residents in the borough and 16,027 in the township.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Township, Mercer County, New Jersey</span> Township in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States

Lawrence Township is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located at the cross-roads between the Delaware Valley region to the south and the Raritan Valley region to the north, the township is an outer-ring suburb of New York City in the New York Metropolitan area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, while also directly bordering the Philadelphia metropolitan area and is part of the Federal Communications Commission's Philadelphia Designated Market Area. The township is a regional commercial hub for central New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 33,077, a decrease of 395 (−1.2%) from the 2010 census count of 33,472, which in turn reflected an increase of 4,313 (+14.8%) from the 29,159 counted in the 2000 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Windsor, New Jersey</span> Township in Mercer County, New Jersey, US

West Windsor is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Located within the Raritan Valley region, the township is an outer-ring suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 29,518, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 2,353 (+8.7%) from the 27,165 recorded at the 2010 census, which in turn reflected an increase of 5,258 (+24.0%) from the 21,907 counted in the 2000 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plainsboro Township, New Jersey</span> Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States

Plainsboro Township is a township situated in southern Middlesex County, within the U.S. state of New Jersey. Centrally located in the Raritan Valley region, the township is an outer-ring suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area, even though it is slightly geographically closer to Center City, Philadelphia than to Midtown Manhattan. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 24,084, its highest decennial count ever and an increase of 1,085 (+4.7%) from the 22,999 recorded at the 2010 census, which in turn had reflected an increase of 2,784 (+13.8%) from the 20,215 counted at the 2000 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Brunswick, New Jersey</span> Township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States

South Brunswick is a township in Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. The township is centrally located within the Raritan Valley region and is an outer-ring suburb of New York City in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 47,043, its highest ever decennial census count and an increase of 3,626 (+8.4%) from the 2010 census count of 43,417, which in turn reflected an increase of 5,683 (+15.1%) from the 37,734 counted in the 2000 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Paterson University</span> Public university in Wayne, New Jersey, U.S.

William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jon Corzine</span> American politician (born 1947)

Jonathan Stevens "Jon" Corzine is an American financial executive and retired politician who served as a United States Senator from New Jersey from 2001 to 2006, and the 54th governor of New Jersey from 2006 to 2010. Corzine ran for a second term as governor but lost to Republican Chris Christie. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously worked at Goldman Sachs; after leaving politics, he was CEO of MF Global from 2010 until its collapse in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodi Rell</span> 87th Governor of Connecticut

Mary Carolyn "Jodi" Rell is an American former politician who served as the 87th governor of Connecticut from 2004 to 2011. Rell also served as the state's 105th lieutenant governor of Connecticut from 1995 to 2004 under Governor John G. Rowland, and became governor after Rowland resigned from office. She remains the most recent Republican governor of Connecticut.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princeton Theological Seminary</span> Private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey, US

Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and the College of New Jersey, it is the second-oldest seminary in the United States. It is also the largest of ten seminaries associated with the Presbyterian Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Dieguito Union High School District</span> School district in California

San Dieguito Union High School District (SDUHSD) is a public school district in northern San Diego County, California. Established in 1936, the district serves over 13,000 students in five middle schools, five comprehensive high schools, and one alternative high school.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princeton Public Schools</span> School district in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States

Princeton Public Schools (PPS) is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade from Princeton, in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. Students from Cranbury Township attend the district's high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship. The district administration building is at 25 Valley Road in Princeton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dolores Huerta</span> American labor leader (born 1930)

Dolores Clara Fernández Huerta is an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Cesar Chavez, is a co-founder of the United Farmworkers Association, which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United Farm Workers (UFW). Huerta helped organize the Delano grape strike in 1965 in California and was the lead negotiator in the workers' contract that was created after the strike.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princeton Day School</span> Private school in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States

Princeton Day School is a private coeducational day school located in Princeton, in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. The largest division is the Upper School, with an enrollment of about 400. The school has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Elementary and Secondary Schools since 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jocelyn Benson</span> Secretary of State of Michigan and academic

Jocelyn Benson is an American activist, politician, and former academic administrator. She is the 43rd Secretary of State of Michigan. Benson is a former dean of Wayne State University Law School, a co-founder of the Military Spouses of Michigan, and a board member of the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality. She is the author of State Secretaries of State: Guardians of the Democratic Process (2010).

The University of Virginia Center for Politics (CfP) is a nonpartisan institute at the University of Virginia. Based in Charlottesville, Virginia, the institute promotes the value of politics and the importance of civic engagement. It operates on the principle that 'government works better when politics works better, and politics works better when citizens are informed and involved participants'.

Suzanne "Sue" Pluskoski Lowden is the former Chairwoman of the Nevada Republican Party and a former Nevada state senator. Lowden is a former businesswoman, television news anchor and kindergarten teacher. Lowden was an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2010 United States Senate election in Nevada and the 2014 Nevada Lt. Governor election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Citizens Campaign</span>

The Citizens Campaign is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization based in Metuchen, New Jersey. It aims to provide US citizens with tools and training for effecting political change in their community. The group was founded by Harry and Caroline Pozycki in 1998, and draws support from experts in law, government, and politics including former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Gary Stein, Dean of the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania Michael Delli Carpini, and former Counsels to Governor Tom Kean and Brendan Byrne, among others.

Action civics is a modern and alternative form of civics education in the United States. Action civics is an applied civic education process in which participants learn about government by examining issues in their own community and then select a focus issue for action through a process of debate, research the issue and learn advocacy strategies, develop civic skills such as public speaking, formulate a plan, mobilize, educate, then evaluate, and reflect on their experience. Participants' voices are encouraged, valued and incorporated. Participants learn by doing, with a focus on collective action. Action civics can encompass a number of different actions from community service to electoral engagement and from talking about concerns with public officials to creating peer education campaigns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothea Greenbaum</span> American sculptor

Dorothea Schwarcz Greenbaum (1893–1986) was an American painter and sculptor.

Veronica Degraffenreid is an American election official serving as the special advisor on election modernization in the Pennsylvania Department of State. After it was announced that Commonwealth Secretary Kathy Boockvar would resign from her position on February 5, 2021, Degraffenreid was announced as her successor.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Laura Wooten Obituary (1920 - 2019) - The Trentonian". www.legacy.com. March 28–29, 2019. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Kahn, Lea (November 3, 2016). "PRINCETON: Keeping an eye on the polls - For 77 years, Laura Wooten has served on Election Day". centraljersey.com. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  3. ↑ Schuessler, Jennifer (November 6, 2017). "Princeton Digs Deep Into Its Fraught Racial History". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Saxon, Jamie (March 29, 2019). "Laura Wooten, Princeton staff member and lifelong election poll volunteer, dies at 98". Princeton University. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  5. ↑ Yaffe, Deborah (April 26, 2017). "Across Nassau Street". Princeton Alumni Weekly. Retrieved 2020-12-05.
  6. ↑ Raker, Meagan. "The Princeton Plan". The Princeton & Slavery Project. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  7. ↑ Freedman, Samuel G. (September 28, 2005). "The Achievement Gap in Elite Schools". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mueller, Mark (November 6, 2016). "'We can do anything:' Older women on the prospect of a female president (VIDEO)". NJ.com. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  9. ↑ Bradley, Stefan M. (2010). "The Southern-Most Ivy: Princeton University from Jim Crow Admissions to Anti-Apartheid Protests, 1794-1969". American Studies. 51 (3/4): 109–130. ISSN   0026-3079. JSTOR   41472298.
  10. ↑ Tomlinson, Brett (January 11, 2019). "50 Years Ago, Princeton Trustees Voted to Admit Women as Undergraduates". Princeton Alumni Weekly. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  11. ↑ "Local Resident Will Be At The Polls For Her 20th Presidential Election". Town Topics. November 2, 2016. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Jennings, Rob (March 31, 2019). "She served as an election poll worker for 79 years and is being mourned as 'one of the great moral leaders'". NJ.com. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Ross, Jannell (November 25, 2018). "Why this poll worker has served on every Election Day since 1939". NBC News. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  14. ↑ Sagona, Chris (November 1, 2016). "A 77-Year Streak of Service at the Polls". New Jersey Monthly. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Sharbel, Taylor (April 1, 2019). "University staff member, renowned poll worker Laura Wooten dies at 98". The Daily Princetonian. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  16. ↑ Kahn, Lea (June 25, 2019). "Historic poll worker honored by Lawrence officials". centraljersey.com. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  17. ↑ Smith, Jay Scott (January 21, 2019). "Annual MLK Day luncheon honors those fighting for justice, voting rights". The Philadelphia Tribune. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  18. 1 2 User Clip: Rep. Payne, Jr. Honoring Ms. Laura Wooten. C-SPAN. September 27, 2018. Retrieved 2020-12-03.
  19. ↑ Hersh, Matthew (December 17, 2003). "Election Worker Honored For 60 Years of Service". Town Topics. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  20. ↑ Shevin, Zachary (May 2, 2019). "Staff members recognized at 'Hidden Chaplains' event". The Daily Princetonian. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  21. 1 2 "'Laura Wooten's Law' Requiring Civics in Middle School Clears Committee". NJ Senate Democrats. February 18, 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  22. ↑ "S854/237 Scs (SCS) "Laura Wooten's Law"; Requires civics instruction in middle school; authorizes New Jersey Center for Civic Education to provide curricula, professional development and technical assistance for middle and high school civics". New Jersey Legislature - Bills. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  23. ↑ "A3394 "Laura Wooten's Law"; Requires civics instruction in middle school; authorizes New Jersey Center for Civic Education to provide curricula, professional development and technical assistance for middle and high school civics and provides annual center funding". New Jersey Legislature - Bills. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  24. ↑ "S 237 S 854: Requires new civics instruction in middle and high schools; requires school districts to use DOE's curriculum guidelines for civics; and requires DOE to provide funding to enhance civics instruction. "Laura Wooten's Law"; Requires civics instruction in middle school; authorizes New Jersey Center for Civic Education to provide curricula, professional development and technical assistance for middle and high school civics and provides annual center funding". New Jersey Education Association Action Center. February 12, 2020. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  25. ↑ Tomlinson, Brett (October 2020). "Princeton Students Rally Peers to Serve as Poll Workers Amid a Shortage". Princeton Alumni Weekly. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  26. ↑ Villa, Lissandra. "The Pandemic Is Causing a Shortage of Poll Workers. Can States Recruit Enough By Election Day?". Time. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  27. ↑ Alvarado, Sofia (October 29, 2020). "The Poll Hero Project: Princeton students bring Gen Z to the polls". The Daily Princetonian. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  28. ↑ Natanson, Hannah (November 3, 2020). "High-schoolers nationwide are volunteering to staff voting stations". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  29. ↑ Franko, Kyle (August 13, 2020). "Princeton U. student-athletes get involved with Poll Hero Project". The Trentonian. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  30. 1 2 Princeton University Office of Communications (June 16, 2020). "Princeton University staff, faculty, others named honorary members by Class of 2020". Princeton University. Retrieved 2020-12-04.
  31. ↑ "University dedicates Laura Wooten Hall in honor of beloved election poll worker's lifelong commitment to service". Princeton University. Retrieved 2022-12-02.
  32. 1 2 "University will name building in honor of Laura Wooten, who was recognized as longest serving U.S. poll worker". Princeton University. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.