Meet the 92-year-old Eagle woman who has shouted voters’ names at polls for 30 years

A couple of years ago, Frances Transtrum said she wasn’t coming back. But when Eagle Fire Station No. 1 opened for voting at 8 a.m. Tuesday, the Eagle woman was in her seat next to a ballot scanning machine.

“I was here at 6:30. I beat everyone here,” said Transtrum, 92, who has served as an Ada County election poll worker for 30 years.

Transtrum asked each voter his or her name, repeated it and said that person had voted, as required by Idaho law. She then handed the voter a small “I voted” sticker.

“People are so cheerful,” Transtrum said. “We seldom have anyone who is grumpy.”

Helping at the polls on Election Day has become a family tradition. Transtrum was surrounded by other family members who also working the polling place. Sitting next to her was her granddaughter, Lindsey Allen. A few feet away, Allen’s husband, Charles, sat at a ballot station. Nearby was Transtrum’s son, Roger. Her son in law, Joe Kynsaton, supervised the polling operation.

“It’s great to have her here,” said Lindsey Allen, working her third election. “She loves being around people.”

In the past, when fewer women worked, it was common for mothers, daughters and other relatives to work as poll workers, said Phil McGrane, Ada County’s chief deputy clerk. It’s less common today, but there still are families like the Transtrums who work together.

“It really helps us when people like Francis work over and over again,” McGrane said. “We don’t have to recruit new people and train them.”

He did not know if Transtrum is the county’s oldest poll worker this year.

Transtrum grew up in Blackfoot and moved to Boise to stay with her sister while her husband, Jay, served in World War II. The couple lived for many years in Meridian, where their eight children were born, and later moved to Eagle. Her husband died 27 years ago. Now she lives by herself off State Street in Eagle and spends time with her children, 37 grandchildren and 118 great-grandchildren.

Although she works a 14-hour shift, from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Election Day, Transtrum herself votes by absentee ballot.

“Once we get started working, we don’t stop,” she said.

Transtrum said the law requiring poll workers to call out voters’ names and say they voted helps ensure that only those registered to vote do so.

In the past, poll watchers from political parties used the callouts to keep track of people who had voted and contact other members of their parties who had not voted to encourage them to cast a ballot, McGrane said.

One time, Transtrum asked a man what his name was and he replied “Big Daddy.” “So I yelled out ‘Big Daddy has voted,’” she said. “He told me he liked how I said that.” The man then gave her his real name and she shouted that out, too.

She beamed whenever she saw a child accompanied by a parent. She offered each child a voting sticker and a peanut butter-pretzel cookie.

“I like when parents bring their children,” she said. “I think it’s important for them to show their children what voting is all about.”

This story was originally published November 6, 2018 at 5:49 PM.