County elections manager having too much fun to retire

Deedie Beard has served 30 years with Kootenai County, but refuses to retire. Her reason? “I’m having way too much fun to quit now.”

She went on to say, “Not in the near future, and definitely not before the 2008 election cycle.” Starting out as a clerk of the court, she ended up in the Recorder’s office, which at that time handled elections, but not voter registration. Tom Taggart, then County Clerk, merged the departments. Beard has been there ever since.

Noting that the job is “exciting,” she didn’t think a rocking chair was the right answer for now. Bright-eyed, intelligent and in love with her job, Beard is the opposite of the stereotypical bureaucrat. Asked about her opinion of her bosses, she said, “I really work for the voters, but I’ve had two wonderful bosses.” The first was Tom Taggart, who was moved up to county administrator, an office since abolished; Dan English was then appointed to the position.

Beard has many stories about her years in the department. She related some of the ballot problems that used to occur. Taggart’s first election was described by Beard as,” the election from Hell.” Due to a software glitch, the ballot counting wasn’t completed until 10 a.m. the morning following the election. Every ballot had to be hand-counted. Not discouraged, the staff went after the task with a vengeance, working for more than 24 hours straight.

With the optical scanning equipment in use now, counting ballots is not a problem anymore. When asked about Beard, Taggart recalled that “From the start of the new department, she just took charge and ran the department with great enthusiasm.”

A similar incident happened on English’s watch – in his first election. According to Beard, he was naturally nervous. There were many initiatives on the ballot, as well as some hotly contested races. Precincts ran out of supplies, and workers were frantically running supplies out to the affected precincts. She related a moment when English and she ran into each other in the supply room. “Frantically loading supplies, they turned, looked at each other, and burst out laughing.” That one was an all-nighter, too. The ballots weren’t all counted until 7 a.m. the next day.

Stress relief takes many forms. She went on to say that “the day following an election, I cry all day. My only objection to Dan English, is that he doesn’t supply the facial tissues.” Asked of any noteworthy changes since she has been elections manager, she said, “Dan English, noted right after he took office that there were too few precincts and that many had to travel long distances to vote. From what was around 35 precincts then, there are now 70.

Asked if the Florida ballot debacle could happen here, she laughed and said firmly, “Absolutely not.” Kootenai County now uses optical scanning equipment with a Braille back-up at each polling station. Among other duties, the elections department must screen the purposes of persons or groups who want voter registration lists. Political parties and candidates are authorized; private businesses are not.

When someone attempts to bully her into giving information, she stands her ground, then thoughtfully warns English, should the offended party appeal to him. She describes him as the perfect boss – a guy that can put his arm around a citizen, walk off discussing the problem and send them home, believing that they won. She ponders, “Maybe they did, because they got the best personal service anyone could ask for.”

The Kootenai County Elections Office is permanently staffed with three people, including Beard. At election time, she has a longtime crew of temporary workers who need very little training. Single, Beard has three grown daughters, one locally, one in Wisconsin and one in Spokane. She also has six grandchildren, three great-grandchildren and her larger family, the voters of Kootenai County.