{"id":4371,"date":"2020-10-25T10:27:24","date_gmt":"2020-10-25T10:27:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=4371"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:52:12","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:52:12","slug":"the-first-one-out-there-how-durhams-elections-chief-gets-ready-for-the-biggest-day-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2020\/10\/25\/the-first-one-out-there-how-durhams-elections-chief-gets-ready-for-the-biggest-day-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The first one out there\u2019: How Durham\u2019s elections chief gets ready for the biggest day of the year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every Election Day, Derek Bowens wakes up and plays the most motivational song he can think of: CNN\u2019s Election Night theme.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>song<\/span><\/a> provides an early-morning jolt that gets the Durham County elections director ready for the busy day ahead. The booming drums, violin swells and electric guitar riffs follow Bowens as he springs out of bed, brushes his teeth, and heads to the office just before 5 a.m. If there\u2019s one thing that riles him up, it\u2019s the rhythm of democracy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so great,\u201d he said of the song. \u201cIt gets me moving.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
An occasional series on the 2020 election in North Carolina.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not that Bowens needs a news theme to get going. Fourteen hours a day, seven days a week, he manages precinct officials and elections administrators, oversees voter registrations and absentee ballot mailings, supervises 14 early voting sites across the county, and prepares for the most important day of his year. On Nov. 3, how well he handles those details \u2014 from ensuring that over 800 poll workers take their places at 57 precincts to resolving potential problems like jammed ballot machines or power outages \u2014 could have a small but significant effect on the confidence and maybe even the outcome of the biggest election of his lifetime.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

He loves his work because it matters.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI see it as the bedrock of our democracy,\u201d he said. \u201cThat importance should be met with a level of intensity.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA multi-ring circus\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

Bowens sweats the small details. He knows election law inside and out, so much so that his employees joke about how easily he catches the errors they\u2019ve missed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had one staff say, \u2018I don\u2019t want to call Derek over to solve this, because the minute he comes over, he\u2019ll find the problem instantly,\u2019\u201d Bowens laughed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Derek Bowens checks the distance between voting stations. Photo by Henry Haggart | The 9th Street Journal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

He\u2019s relatively new to Durham, having arrived from New Hanover County in 2016, and his colleagues say the office is more efficient now under his leadership. According to Philip Lehman, chairman of the Durham board of elections, there were 792 mistakes of various degrees in the 2016 primary election, which took place before Bowens arrived. In this year\u2019s primary, there were eight.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDerek is running a multi-ring circus,\u201d Lehman said. \u201cBut he\u2019s always ahead of the game.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In the tight-knit world of election administrators, reputations are earned on the little stuff. As director of elections in New Hanover, home to Wilmington, Bowens became known for his well-organized warehouses, where necessities from ballot machines to \u201cI Voted\u201d stickers are kept.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But don\u2019t look for signs of organization on his desk. Papers are scattered across the cherry wood \u2014 calendars, time sheets, fliers, and reusable paper towels (he wanted to see if they could be used to sanitize polling places).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey say organized people have the messiest desks,\u201d he deadpanned.<\/span><\/p>\n

Colleagues say he never loses his cool. When a problem arises, he goes into solutions mode, turning his eyes to the sky. His employees know that when he lowers his eyes, he\u2019ll have a plan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere was never a moment where he seemed panicked or overwhelmed,\u201d said Samuel Gedman, former deputy director of elections. \u201cHe simply lays out what needs to be done. In this business, that\u2019s huge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel confident that things are under control\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

In a conversation with Lehman, Bowens once gave his top three priorities in life:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Faith, family, and elections.<\/span><\/p>\n

Elections appear to be a newer passion. Growing up in Wilmington, he lived in an apartment in the projects with his single mother, sister, and two brothers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

His mother, who worked at a preschool, tried to expose her children to positive experiences while shielding them from the drugs and violence of the inner city. Eventually, she married Bowens\u2019 stepfather, the owner of a local painting company who built the family a house in the suburbs when Bowens was 12 years old.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the years of poverty had made their mark. Bowens wanted to keep climbing up.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI had a decision to make, to be better than my circumstances,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He was a good student in high school, a self-described nerd. He was president of the debate team and won a \u201cprincipal\u2019s choice\u201d award, accomplishments that helped him earn grants to subsidize his college, which he split between UNC Charlotte, community college, and UNC Wilmington. He was determined to graduate with honors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He wanted to give back to his mother.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom is very important to me,\u201d he said, his voice softening. \u201cI want to be in a position where I can do everything for her, so she doesn\u2019t have to worry about a thing.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The 2008 presidential election was a turning point in his self-realization, when he saw a Black man on the ballot for the first time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In a necessarily nonpartisan job, Bowens doesn\u2019t talk politics. He says he doesn\u2019t have a stake in who wins the elections he oversees, \u201cor care, for that matter.\u201d Still, Barack Obama\u2019s candidacy and subsequent presidency rocked Bowens to his core.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was something that I could never fathom,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was the first time I felt like I could do something in this country.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduating college in 2011, he got a job as a New Hanover County elections specialist in Wilmington and quickly ascended the ranks. By February 2015, he was the county\u2019s director of elections \u2014 at age 27.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bowens is now 32, significantly younger than many of his employees. But Deputy Director Brenda Baker says he has an old soul.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe could be any age,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s very mature, a methodical thinker, and a great problem solver. It\u2019s impressive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Lehman said Bowen is \u201cthe kind of guy that, when he talks, you listen. With his leadership, we feel confident that things are under control.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Finding belonging in Durham<\/b><\/p>\n

Bowens says any worries about a chaotic election are unfounded.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI have every confidence in our ability to execute a great election here in Durham,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
\u201cDerek is running a multi-ring circus,\u201d says Durham elections board Chair Philip Lehman. \u201cBut he\u2019s always ahead of the game.\u201d Photo by Henry Haggart | The 9th Street Journal<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

More worrisome to him is the threat of voter suppression, which has historically disproportionately affected Black and Latino voters. In September, President Trump <\/span>encouraged<\/span><\/a> North Carolina citizens to \u201cwatch all the thieving and stealing and robbing\u201d at the polls, pushing misinformation about the prevalence of voter fraud while seeming to encourage voter intimidation. Later that month, his son Donald Trump Jr. <\/span>released a video<\/span><\/a> calling for supporters to \u201cenlist\u201d in an \u201carmy for Trump.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At the mention of voter intimidation, Bowens\u2019 jaw clenched.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re doing everything we can to create a safe voting environment in Durham,\u201d he said. \u201cThe issue of voter intimidation is very important, and it certainly won\u2019t be tolerated.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For years, Durham County has dispatched unarmed security guards to polling places to protect voters from instances of intimidation. Two weeks ago, the North Carolina State Board of Elections told elections officials that law enforcement could not be assigned to a polling site. But Bowens appealed the decision and got Durham\u2019s policy reapproved.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition to the unarmed security guards, if a precinct in Durham does see an instance of voter intimidation, \u201cI\u2019ll be the first one out there, I can tell you that,\u201d Bowens said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Durham\u2019s approach to voter suppression is largely an expression of its racial and ethnic diversity. The county\u2019s \u201ccultural melting pot\u201d allows Bowens to feel at home here, which he said wasn\u2019t always the case in Wilmington.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere were some difficulties there, in terms of feeling like I belonged,\u201d he said. \u201cIn Durham, I see other people that look like me. I feel like I belong.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Durham elections officials welcomed his arrival in 2016, after years of turnover in an office \u201cflying by the seat of its pants,\u201d according to Lehman. Before Bowens, they had no written manual of office procedures. Within months, he wrote a manual.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

During Baker\u2019s interview for the position of deputy director, her first impression of Bowens was of a \u201cpretty serious and very precise person.\u201d At first, she worried he would be a tough boss.<\/span><\/p>\n

But after 5 p.m., when the phones finally stop ringing and the office closes for the night, his employees see him at his most comfortable. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He takes off his shoes and wanders the office in his socks. He whistles to himself and blasts Michael Jackson\u2019s greatest hits from his phone. When Gedman worked in the office, they\u2019d turn on the <\/span>Dirty Dancing<\/span><\/i> soundtrack.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Bowens says unwinding together at the end of a long day helps the office build comradery.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe spend more time together than we do with our own families,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t see his own family much these days. He says his wife, Andrea, doesn\u2019t always agree with his commitment to the job, \u201cbut she understands the importance of it,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He misses his 3-year-old daughter, Harper, most of all. When trying to describe her, Bowens shook his head in awe.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo words,\u201d he said. \u201cI just love being a papa.\u201d He wishes he could spend more time with her.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cBut this is our democracy,\u201d he said. \u201cIt requires sacrifice.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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