"Boring Elections" Are the Goal: A Conversation with Augusta, Georgia's 31-Year Elections Veteran

Cut through the partisan noise and find out how elections really work in your community, and around the country, straight from the election workers themselves. 

In this episode, host Tate Fall sits down with Travis Doss, Executive Director of the Richmond County Board of Elections and a 31-year veteran of election administration in Georgia.

Travis shares how he got his start in elections (spoiler: it wasn’t part of the plan), and what he’s learned after three decades on the job. From managing a large, diverse county to launching tools like voter wait time trackers, he offers a behind-the-scenes look at how local election offices serve voters every day. They also dig into voter education, the role of social media and local media in combating misinformation, and why checking your local election office is more important than ever. Plus, Travis explains how Georgia’s election officials work together through their state association to improve systems and advocate for voters statewide.

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Welcome back to Keepers of our Republic, a new weekly podcast from Keep Our Republic that takes listeners inside the institutions at the heart of American democracy. Every week, Keepers of Our Republic features thoughtful conversations with election administrators and retired federal judges. We explore how elections are really run, discuss why an independent judiciary is essential to a strong republic, and separate fact from fiction in a fast-changing world. Learn more about Keep Our Republic, a nonpartisan nonprofit, at our website, https://keepourrepublic.org 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Keep our Republic is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization. Since the spring of 2020, we've been doing our part to help keep our republic. We do it through hyper-localized civic education. We talk with Americans through town halls, legal seminars, media briefings, and other events. We know a lot of Americans have a lot of questions about how our elections work. What safeguards are in place, and who actually is working behind the scenes on election night as the votes are being tabulated. And that's why we're really glad you're joining us today. Hopefully we can answer some of those questions.

SPEAKER_00 0:39

Welcome back to Keepers of Our Republic, a weekly nonpartisan podcast talking to election officials and judges about defending the rule of law and free and fair elections, also known as how we keep our republic. I'm your host, Tate Ball. If this is your first time joining us, don't forget to hit the like and subscribe button and join us here every week on Thursdays for these conversations. Today I'm joined by Travis Doss, one of the OGs in Georgia Elections. Travis is the executive director at the Richmond County Board of Elections, where he's worked for 31 years. In addition to his role in Richmond County, Travis is also the immediate past president of the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, also known as Gavrio. Thank you, Travis, for joining me today.

SPEAKER_03 1:24

Well, thank you for inviting me. This is exciting.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Awesome. Well, we'll jump in. Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into elections.

SPEAKER_03 1:35

Well, you know, as you said, I've I've been doing this for 31 years. I started uh working at the Board of Elections in '95. Um, I was 29 years old. And I I would like to say that I got involved in elections because I had this burning desire uh to be a part of the election process, but I can't say that. Um what I did have was a burning desire to get paid and to get a job. Um I was fortunate enough to uh kind of start my career in public service. I did an internship uh through the county government. So when I graduated from college and uh I moved away, I moved back to town and I contacted my previous boss and said, Hey, I need a job and can you give me one? So luckily I was able to get started back working in the county government, um, but I wanted to to kind of expand. I mean, I started out as a county clerk in the courts court system. Um, and so it just so happened that the Board of Elections was looking for an assistant director. And I thought, okay, well, I, you know, I have a uh I have a degree, I have a master's degree, um, I public relations advertising. Sure, that that sounds like a fun thing to do.

SPEAKER_02 2:52

Right.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

Uh exactly. Really, little did I know, little did I know. Um, I mean, like I said, I was 29, green, you know, just wanting to make my mark on society. So um I have it, I have enjoyed it thoroughly. I would not do it any other way. Um, but you know, and for most people that are in this profession, I don't think there's many of us that that growing up in life say, hey, I want to be a lections director when I grow up. Um I I don't think that's on the on the list of of careers uh on career day that you at school that that you draw a picture of yourself doing. Um so yeah, so it has definitely been uh a very interesting and and challenging ride. Um I mean I have been here at the Board of Elections uh for all of those 31 years. I was the assistant director up until 2022 where I became the executive director. And I tell you, Georgia has just it's been crazy all of those years. It has been a wild ride.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Yeah, I can only imagine. It's funny. I always tell people elections is one of those roles and jobs where you either love it or you hate it and you quit. There is no in-between. People don't tough it out, you know, people don't stick around. It's just it's one or the other. And so I totally get that. You just kind of fall in love. I know when I was at the EAC, there was a commissioner and uh Commissioner McCormick, and she always said elections is like the hotel California. Once you check in, you never leave. And I feel like that that's so accurate. Even someone like me who's left administration after starting our family, I still can't kick it. You know, I still love it, and it's still part of what I do every day. And so I'm grateful for like I said, OGs like you that have helped pave the way. Um, so tell us a little bit about your county, like how many voters you have, number of precinct staff, and anything unique about your county just to paint a picture for our listeners.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

Well, certainly. So I'm in Richmond County, which is which is Augusta, Georgia. And for those sports fans out there, we are the home of the Masters, which is the golf uh, we're considered the golf capital of the world. But um, you know, we just had the the tournament last week, and so um first week of April is when it is, and so that's when everybody just descends upon Augusta um for voting. So, but I have been uh living in here in Augusta, Richmond County all of my life. And so for Richmond County, we have about a hundred and forty eight thousand registered voters, active and inactive, about 131 active voters. Um we are a combination of urban, suburban. We are one of three, I believe, counties in Georgia that are actually consolidated. Um, so we have a consolidated government for for the city of Augusta and the county of Richmond. And so that's always that's a that's a a unique challenge. Um by being consolidated government, but it's also a great opportunity because for many counties where you have those municipalities and you have annexations and you're constantly having to move city limit lines, we don't have that because we're consolidated. I do still have two cities in Richmond County, the city of Blythe and City of Hepsiba, but they can't annex because they would be annexing into the city of Augusta or the or or the county, so they they're not so I don't have that that I have to deal with, which is which is wonderful. I I don't have to worry about the city limit lines. Um but we have 41 polling day um polling places, we have 65 precincts, um, we have four early voting um locations spread throughout the county, and so um it's just we're a combination, like I said, of of urban and suburban. We have our downtown area um where where the city is, but then we also out in the southern portion uh near Burke County, which is more um farms and things like that. So we have a little bit of a combination of both.

SPEAKER_00 7:03

I love that. I think you raised a great point about being a consolidated government because I know our listeners are mostly voters, and so I think as always, as we know, everyone thinks elections just happen and people don't often think about the difference between like municipal elections and who's running those versus county elections. And I think it's interesting in a state like Georgia where it's home rule, every county is different. You know, when I was in COM, we did run our cities' elections, and then you have another big county like Gwinnett where they don't run it, the cities run their own elections. And so I think it's always good to highlight those differences that way voters know that it can be different. It's not always the same person in charge. Um, for you, luckily it is.

SPEAKER_03 7:43

Right. Well, like I said, luckily this the both our two our two small cities do contract with us so we run their elections. And when the city county first consolidated, the actual city of Augusta um ran their um uh elections during the off years, you know, the municipal years, but they decided that they wanted to do it on the even years, so that even makes it even easier that we I can run the city elections at the same time as the county elections. So yeah, that works out very well.

SPEAKER_00 8:15

I love that. I think that's such a voter-centric choice too, because you know you have we have major voter burnout here in Georgia and in other states where they have runoff elections, and then you know you're gonna have higher turnout on those municipal elections. I mean, how many municipal elections have we seen where you have three, four, five percent turnout? You know, so having them consolidated like that, I love that. I don't know, I know your voters love that too.

SPEAKER_03 8:38

Oh yes, it makes it, yes. It's uh it just makes things so much easier to have that all combined at one time.

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Absolutely. And so speaking kind of of that, we've talked, you and I have talked about your voter wait time tool before. Can you tell us a little bit about the tool, how it was created and implemented, and how it can help your voters and other voters if other counties or cities have similar systems?

SPEAKER_03 9:01

Certainly. So when we first designed the tool, uh originally when early voting took off in the state of Georgia, we just had you know the law requires that you have one location open, which is the registrar's open, registrar's office. So we did have just our office was open. Um we it became very popular, lines were very long and whatnot. So we decided that we would then open up three other locations, sort of a satellite location, but it would only be open the one week, the last week before the election. So for two weeks, the downtown location was open, and then for the last week, the third week, we had these three sites open. And what we found that with those three sites, once the fourth, once the three three extra sites opened up, um, people seemed to be waiting to go that last week because of course many of the sites were closer to their homes and things like that. Um, but um so what we did was we were looking at the downtown location because of that, was getting no activity. It was very busy the first two weeks, but that last week no one was showing up. And we had one kind of central location that they were having two and three hour waits. And we thought this is just this is this is crazy. I I understand the dedication of doing that, but you got a downtown, you know, you got a downtown location which has no waiting, and you've got this other location that people are, you know, wrapped around the building.

SPEAKER_02 10:27

Right.

SPEAKER_03 10:28

And so we thought, okay, what if we gave everybody the opportunity um to check those wait times? You know, so if if you're not really, I mean, I don't I mean my the can my county is not huge. It's it's it's not like the Metro counties. I mean it it takes you 20 minutes to to go from one location to the other. So it's just it's not an it's not an unreasonable drive. So we thought, you know, hey, this would be a great idea if we if we put on our website the wait time. So if you were deciding to go out and vote, let's look at you know the Brigham Center, see how long the wait time is there, or Robert Howard, or even downtown. And so we thought that would kind of help people make those decisions. And yes, I understand that the place closest to your home may be, you know, a two-minute drive, but if you drove another 10 minutes, you would you you you would save time rather than waiting in line for three hours, you would drive. And it was kind of funny because we we had one one election that uh I went to one of the advanced voting sites and the line was just like out the door. So I jumped out of my car and I'm telling the people, I'm like, look, just go downtown.

SPEAKER_02 11:32

There's no waiting. Go downtown, go downtown. And I thought, wow, I didn't identify myself, I didn't say who I was. Who's this guy yelling at us? He's probably telling us, he's probably trying to force us not to vote, or he's probably discouraging us by telling us to go someplace else.

SPEAKER_03 11:51

I thought, okay, I probably shouldn't do that, I probably should not do that again. Um, but so the wait time application has been nice. So you can go online, you can look at the wait times. Now it's not quite as um, we don't have as many wait times as we have as we did back then, but we still keep the application up there. I know. Um, but we we we changed back in 2024, and we thought, you know what, since we saw so many people were waiting until that last week, and we saw that that was what was causing the lines, we just decided to go ahead and open up all four locations on day one. And that way it unfortunately didn't really increase turnout, but what it did do is it kind of spread the people out over a longer period of time. So we kind of we it did increase it a little bit, but what we saw the same people who enjoy the advanced voting were still taking advantage of it, but they weren't waiting until that last week. They were coming the first, second, or third week. And so we did not have that problem with um people having to wait in line. So that's that's always that's been helpful to have the four locations from the beginning. But the wait time is still something fun that if people want to look up and see, you know, if they can't decide where they want to go, they can they can check the application and see how long the wait is.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

I love that. I think that's a great thing to, you know, let voters know, hey, before you head out the door, check the wait time app, see which has the shortest line, maybe go to that public instead of the public's closest to your house or whichever one you were heading out, you know, whatever errand you were gonna go out and run. And it kind of helps people, you know, like you said, once they typically start voting early, they're gonna kind of stick to that. But it's always nice to see them being willing to be flexible and agile to go to a different site. And I love that you guys were responsive by opening all your sites all three weeks to kind of help spread that love a little bit. And so I know that that I know your voters definitely appreciate that as well.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

Absolutely. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

So that kind of makes me think about voter education in general, um, which is something you do really well in Richmond County. So, what have you found to be kind of the most successful ways to engage your voters? And on the flip side, how can voters engage with their local election offices as well?

SPEAKER_03 14:04

We have really in Richmond County embraced social media. Um, I was probably, gosh, it's probably been about 10 years ago. I remember I was at a SIRA class, which is you know the certified election registration um administration with um the election center. And I was at a class and it was being taught by the these 20-year-olds. I mean, I don't disparage 20-year-olds because that they're the the up and coming. I mean, I'm I'm still the old man here. Yes. Um I I know exactly. And um, you know, they were talking about you know these Twitter accounts and Facebook accounts and Instagram and all this other stuff, and and we were always a little reluctant to to jump on the bandwagon for social media because you know, once you start putting information out there, you you kind of lose a little bit of control.

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

Um, you know, you start getting comments on the page and and the potential for disinformation and things like that. So we we were a little reluctant. And so finally, about 10 years ago, decided to embrace that option. So we started off with a Facebook page. We started, you know, we started with the Twitter page, which is you know now called X, um, got a little bit late on Instagram, but we found that that is that is one way that that our voters were getting the messages from other people. You know, the the candidates had Facebook pages, the and um and other um groups were creating Facebook pages to get the messages out there. So we thought, okay, why why don't we get on the bandwagon and do this as well? We'll post stuff to Facebook, to Facebook, people will share it, people will get involved. And so I think that's really one of the things that we have strongly encouraged our voters to do is to embrace social media. We also have worked really hard with our website. The City of Augusta has a website, but we even created our own website under their banner where we had our own page that we governed and we put all of our information out there. We just recently uh changed our Board of Elections meetings to during the day. So now we live stream the meetings. Um yeah, we post all of we post the agendas and all the documents and things like that. So if a person can actually attend the meeting, they still can watch it and they have access to to the documents. So we really have tried to put so much information out there on our website uh for people to get involved with. Um the City of Augusta has also worked very close or very hard with like pushing information out there as far as they it's called notify me. So you can sign up for for any department's um information so they can whenever I post something as far as a meeting update or um anything that pertains to elections, it immediately goes out into that notify me. So that's one of the ways that we're trying very hard to you know engage with the with the voters. I have a very close um uh connection with our local TV stations, newspaper, and things like that. I I know that um a lot of people are are I won't say reluctant, but are very careful uh to to engage with the with with your media shareholders because you just never really know. But I found that you know the more you work with them, the the more you can trust them, they can trust you, they come to you as that source. And uh so so they will reach out to you if they they hear rumors. As a matter of fact, I I had a media request just the other day um warning said, okay, now that the Save Act has passed, um, let's talk about it. And I was like, the Save Act has it passed. But I I'll be more than happy to uh talk about what I know about it, but let's not put that information out there to the public saying that that has passed because it has not passed. Right. Um so so it was kind of nice that we I was able to stop stop that that story um before it got out there to the public. And because she was like, you know, what people what what new things do people need to know before they go? What do they have to bring? What do they and I'm like, nothing, nothing's changed. Let's yeah, let's not confuse people by by making it seem like things have changed. So I just recently did a um, it was uh a program called Know Before You Go, and you know, in preparation for our May primary. And that way I just you know, we were inviting people out to just get some of your questions answered, learn more about the voting process. And because primaries is what we have coming up in May is always a little bit confusing for voters anyway, because you know, in Georgia, for those who don't know you, in Georgia, we do not register by party. So each time you go to the polls, you choose what party ballot, which parties ballot you want. So whether if you voted you know Democrat last year, you can vote Republican this year. And so it it just does not matter. And of course, we're fortunate enough to have our primaries on the same day, which I think in some jurisdictions they don't even do that. Yeah, you know, the Democrat primaries one one day and the Republican could be two weeks later. So we're very fortunate that we have them both on the same day. So even though that's that's great for us, it can be confusing for voters when they go in and they say, Well, I want to vote on this question or I want to vote on that candidate, and they and they can't with the primary. So it's always a challenge when primaries come along just to educate the voters that you know you're you're not registered by party, you have to make a choice before, you know, before you can actually vote. And those are just things that you know, we we try and just get that message out there to the public. And I I do everything I can. I never turn down a request for um an interview, I'd never turn down a request for a comment. Um actually kind of be made fun of by some of my counterparts. Like I turned on the TV and Travis was on it again.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

I mean, so blessed.

SPEAKER_02 20:15

That's right. That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Well, I love that. And I think that really highlights, I think one of the most common things we see is our voters who watch the national news or get their information at the national level and they're hearing about something that's happening in a different state, and then they call you frantic or they show up at your office. And I think that that highlights and it's great for our listeners to remember that every state is different. In a lot of states, every county is different. In some states, every city is different. And so when you're watching national news and they're talking about elections, or if you see something on Facebook that's not from your local election office or your local news, it's always a great idea. You know, check out your local official election officials' website, like you said, your great website, their social media, give them a call, make sure that that is true for your jurisdiction and it's not just something. Because, like you said, every, I mean, we have open primaries versus closed primaries. There's so many things that are different. And you hear, you know, crazy stories about people posting things and you just never know what's real. And so it's always good to check in with you, the real professional. And that's why I love you've built those relationships, which is crucial. So you're getting all your voters from those that watch the local news to those that still read the paper to those on Twitter. So I think that that's great. And it's something that I hope all voters, you know, know that they can check out that information for their local people.

SPEAKER_03 21:42

That's true. And and and you really nailed it when you talk about listening to the national news or sometimes even the local news. You know, it can vary from county to county. Because just like you, you know, just because you heard that, you know, you're the neighboring county may be open from because I mean we have this this struggle right now. My neighboring county, they're open from eight eight to five for advanced voting, we're open 830 to 6. And so if you only hear a part of it, then you may miss. You need to make sure that you verify your particular county and don't just assume that what's good for one county is the same for for another county.

SPEAKER_00 22:15

Yes, that's a great point. And I know that that is most states are like that, where it is different. So I think that that's a great thing to highlight. I'd be remiss if I didn't talk a little bit about our amazing state association here in Georgia, which is the Georgia Association of Voter Registration and Election Officials, also known as Gabrio. And most voters probably aren't aware that their state likely has an association for their election officials. Almost all states have one. What do you think is beneficial about having such a strong state association? And I'm curious what you think what's beneficial for election officials, but how that also benefits our voters.

SPEAKER_03 22:53

Well one of the things I mean I am just so thrilled I have been, you know, as you said involved in elections for all this time where we used to have two separate associations. We had an election official association and a voter registrar's association. And in 2019 the two associations combined but we were kind of just still trying to to figure out what direction we wanted to go. And probably about two years ago two years two three two or three years ago we decided look we are 159 counties but 500 members strong. I mean we have a voice we're not just an individual person in a county you know shouting at the windmills. I mean we could um you know make a point here and so we did we we we decided that okay now is the time that we need to have our voices heard and so we we actually went and hired a lobbyist and we really started working very closely with the um the le our legislators on legislation and has just been so well received to the point that you as you said Gavrio well you know when we first started it was Gabriel Gabarro Gavrio I mean nobody even knew our name I mean it was just I mean it was almost like you know this little small town whatever that nobody nobody even knew how to pronounce and it was just so exciting this last last session I mean Gavrio was mentioned so many times and the voices of the election officials were were spoken. I think there was even an opportunity when you were with Cobb there was a there was a hearing and after they did the presentation after the after the legislator did their presentation they said okay before we open this up to public comment we want to hear from the election officials first we want to hear from Gabriel first and I thought wow that is such a difference than the way it was you know five years ago and you know for the voters what that means is that you know because we are an association because we are you know banded together 159 counties even though we each may conduct our elections differently based on our population based on um our our demographics of voters we still have that collective uh sharing of ideas and working together to come up with different things on what is best for the voter and how something may work in one county may not necessarily work in your county but then when you when you talk how you can still mold it to make it fit best for your county and when we we work together um on getting out sort of the same messaging that's always very helpful is that we're all talking about the same things and how those things affect the voters. So as you say you know for many states most states do have uh an association for their election officials and it's always good to kind of hear what the election officials are saying and thinking to see how that affects the the actual voters of that county. So it it has just been phenomenal what has happened in these past few years. And I'm just so thrilled to to have been president of the association when that was going on and to still be a part of that right now.

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Yeah and one thing I I'd love to highlight for our listeners a little peek behind the curtain when I was in my last role I was able to serve on the legislative committee for Gabrio and you know I was in Cobb, one of the largest metro counties in Georgia and one thing that I was always so impressed by is that you know the legislative committee was a great representation of Gavrio in the state of Georgia as a whole with different sized counties, different levels of funding different levels of support. And one thing that's important for our listeners to know is in Georgia all election officials are nonpartisan. Not the case in every state but that is the case here in Georgia. Even though obviously counties typically vote one way or another we as humans vote one way or another you know it everyone could come together and we could recognize when we were talking about issues, you know, the metros would say you know what that's really a metro only issue. We'll handle that on our own. We don't want Gabriel to have to worry about that. And you know they were listening to you know we were listening to our smaller counties and smaller counties listening to the bigger counties and it really was like you said one banded together team and I loved that and I hope our voters know that you know as election officials we're all on the same team we're all on the same page and I think Gabrio does a great job of showing that.

SPEAKER_03 27:36

Well we have that's like I said that that is one of the things we try and do and you and you couldn't and that's the the so nice what you say is that you know what we do is all for the voters. I mean that that is what we live and breathe. I mean if if we didn't have the voters we wouldn't have a job and it's and it's and it can be a little disheartening sometimes when when we're accused of of making changes that to hurt voters and it's like we wouldn't have a job without without you without you're the reason we show up that's right exactly exactly so you know we there's no there's no reason for us to do things that that that are against voters. I mean everything we do is just trying to help the voters making sure that you know they're registered to vote making sure they are their their registration is up to date making sure they know where to go and vote because if if you're a voter and you show up at the wrong location and then we have to do something differently you know because you know because you're at the wrong polling place that's extra work for us. You know we want to make it easy for you. It's extra for you it's extra for us. So everything we do is especially for the voters to make things as easy and as seamless as as possible. And I got a pair of socks that said something about you know I love boring elections and that's the truth. You know election day you know we you know if if it's a quiet election you know that's great. That that is that is what we're that's what that is what we want.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

Hallelujah that's exactly right my goodness all right so final question here as we've talked about you've seen a lot of changes in elections in our country and here in Georgia as we think about our country turning 250 this year what are your thoughts on our democracy as it stands today and what do you want voters to know you know it's it's so hard to believe that that it's been 250 years.

SPEAKER_03 29:24

I mean because you know as they say the more things change the more they the more they stay the same there have been so many changes uh in our country in the past 250 years but but for what it was founded on you know founded on the democracy founded on um the representation of the people wanting to be represented and and and I think that is one of the things that has has continued on today and for for voters to know that you know you may hear these crazy stories and you may think that your vote doesn't count but it really really does it always has and if you do not become a part of the process then things may pass you by. So you have to make sure that you become part of that process. Make sure that you vote make sure that you every opportunity that you vote I mean one of the things that you know we struggle with so much when you were talking about the national media I mean every four years when we have a presidential election everybody wants to vote for president. They run out and vote for president which is you know not knocking the president that's fine. But they forget about those local it's those local races that matter so much because it's those local people that are making the decisions that affect your day-to-day life and I always like to to ex to equate that with I said when was the last time the president fixed that pothole in front of your house you know it's just like you know you've got to remember to vote for your local people because those are the people that are going to build that park that are going to set your taxes that are going to make sure that the infrastructure of your city and county is correct. You know the the president fine but it's you've got to remember to get out to those local elections as well so don't just wait and vote every four years make every opportunity to vote. And that was what this country was founded on. It was founded on by a group of people that wanted to make sure that they had proper representation and they wanted to form a government for the people by the people and that is I mean that is just you know the basis that we were built on and I think it just continues today and we just need to make sure that that we continue to keep democracy alive.

SPEAKER_00 31:54

I love it. What a great way to end our podcast thank you travellers for joining us today. That was so fun. Thanks for sharing your insights with our listeners and thank you listeners for tuning in we'll be back next week with another episode talking with more keepers of our republic.

SPEAKER_03 32:09

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

It's so great to be here if you like this episode please share it on social media and tell your friends it's the best way for folks to find out about us. I hope you'll agree that our guest is indeed a keeper of the republic. If you want to learn more about how you can help keep our republic stop on over to our website keephourrepublic.org. Thanks so much for joining us to learn more about the safeguards in running our nation's elections