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Election 2024
Lukas Levin

Job Interview: For election ballot designers, there’s no room for error

A man stands next to a ballot scanner.
Danny Daly, an elections technician, stands by a demo ballot scanner at the Anoka County Elections Office on Oct. 31.
Lukas Levin | MPR News

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For many election workers, Election Day is the culmination of months of preparation to ensure a smooth and fair election for millions of Minnesotans.

In Anoka County, election technician Danny Daly has spent the last several months preparing making sure they get the ballots right. When it comes to font size, candidate order and spelling, he’s one of the few making sure each ballot meets state requirements.

“It is a jigsaw puzzle,” Daly said. In addition to designing the ballots, Daly also programs voting machines to make sure they can read his ballots correctly.

Daly majored in biochemistry. But after he struggling to find a job in his field, his dad, also a government worker, helped steer him to the elections office.

“I still have that really scientific mindset and working in elections administration — lot of data, lot of numbers — I feel like it’s just such a good fit,” Daly said.

This conversation is a part of our “Job Interview” series, where we talk to everyday Minnesotans about the rewards and challenges of their work. This interview has been lightly edited for style and clarity. Click on the audio player for the original version.

Official title: Anoka County Elections Technician

What I actually do: I designed the Anoka County ballots and program the machines to read the ballots.

A great day at work: One of my absolute favorite things to do is, is when the precincts send us in all the results on election night — hitting the button to submit those for everyone to see. Sending those off is a culmination of everything that I’ve done, from setting up and designing the ballot all the way through all the voters coming in … That’s really satisfying.

A not-so-great day at work: Putting [the ballot] together and sending off that file to print is always super nerve-wracking, just because, you know, 100 percent needs to be 100 percent accurate.

What I’ve learned: You walk around outside, you look at, like, a sign or a poster, and you don’t really think much about it. But there’s a lot of work that goes into designing things, getting things approved. I feel like ballots are kind of one of those things. It kind of gives me a greater appreciation for those little things. Just all the effort that gets put into putting anything out there.