The Accidental Election Judge
A daughter’s decision sparks a lifetime of service at the polls.
BETHALTO — Margot Wilfong’s daughter volunteered her to work an election in 1957. Sixty-eight years later, the 98-year-old Bethalto resident is retiring from serving Madison County voters after health setbacks prompted her to step away.
Wilfong spent much of her time as an election judge serving Precinct 15, working through the transition from hand-counted paper ballots to modern voting equipment. Following the spring primary election, she considered returning for the November election but ultimately decided to retire.
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During a recent visit to Wilfong’s home, Madison County Clerk Linda Andreas heard how a special election and a shortage of judges led to Wilfong’s decades of service.
“My kids loved me. They volunteered me for everything,” Wilfong told Andreas. “My daughter volunteered me, and that’s how I got in.”
A mother of four with three surviving children, Wilfong recalled that a local precinct committeeman needed help, and her daughter offered her mother’s services.
“I really didn’t mind,” Wilfong said. “Most of the time, I had a pretty good time working elections.”
When she began, voters marked paper ballots, and election judges counted every vote by hand. Workers sorted ballots into piles, tallied results and delivered election materials to the courthouse in Edwardsville. Some election nights lasted until the next morning.
“I’ve been standing over there at the courthouse when it was coming daylight,” she said.
By the time she returned home, her husband would already be at work and her children would be getting ready for school.
Over the years, Wilfong witnessed changes in voting equipment and the introduction of early voting and voting by mail. She also worked in different precincts as the Forest Homes area developed and precinct boundaries changed.
Asked about memorable experiences, Wilfong recalled occasions when she stood her ground to protect the voting process.
During one election, people entered a polling place and began telling voters which candidates to support.
“You can’t do that,” Wilfong recalled telling them.
When they refused to stop, she asked a young woman from her Sunday school class to contact her grandfather, Deputy Sheriff Glenn Underwood.
“I said, ‘Linda, go home and tell your grandpa I need him up here,’” Wilfong said.
The deputy arrived, and the individuals left.
During another election, a man delivering lunch orders threatened to have Wilfong removed from the polling place after she challenged his behavior.
“I said, ‘Try it,’” she recalled.
For Wilfong, enforcing election rules did not depend on political affiliation. Her interest in elections began in childhood, when her Republican father and Democratic mother frequently supported opposing candidates.
“They always voted against one another,” she said.
Her father allowed her to stay awake to follow election results, encouraging an interest that lasted throughout her life.
Wilfong grew up on a farm in Macoupin County, about five miles northwest of Shipman. By age 5, she could milk cows, and by 10, she knew how to harness a team of horses.
“It takes all of us working to get by,” she recalled her father saying.
That work ethic continued as she sewed prom dresses, made curtains for Alton Memorial Hospital and worked elections.
Friendships with fellow election judges helped make the work enjoyable. Even after Wilfong stopped driving, other judges picked her up at home and made sure she returned safely after long days at the polls.
Although she has decided to retire, she has not entirely ruled out returning.
“I bet I could call them right now and say I changed my mind, and I’ll bet they’d put me back in,” she said.
Wilfong, who turns 99 in January, remains proud of her service but is less comfortable with the attention it brings.
“I don’t like to call attention to myself,” she said.
During their conversation, Andreas and Wilfong discussed Madison County’s continuing need for election judges, who staff polling places, assist voters and help ensure elections follow established procedures.
The county provides training and compensation, but recruiting enough people willing to make the commitment remains a challenge. Those interested can contact the Madison County Clerk’s Office for information about qualifications and training.
Wilfong urged prospective judges to take their responsibilities seriously and avoid last-minute cancellations that burden others working at the polls.
“Get in there and put your whole heart and soul in it,” she said. “Because that’s the way it should be run.”
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