Marvin Bentley
Board of Elections: Marvin Bentley, Election Management Technician
Years with the County: 18
Briefly describe your job. What do you do?
In elections, we are all cross trained to do everything from filing candidates, finding and training poll workers, processing voter registrations, removing felons and deceased voters, and entering absentee ballot requests.
My exclusive duties include maintaining the Board’s website, compiling statistics, and updating our GEOCODE of addresses (processing annexations and ensuring all the new houses and housing developments have been added to the database). During an election cycle, I ready the programming for all election equipment (tabulators, ballot marking devices, laptops, etc.). I also design and present the poll worker training course before each election. During our “downtime” between elections, I’m usually enhancing our office automation by creating and upgrading Access and Excel applications (I enjoy VBA programming).
What is your favorite aspect of your job—what do you enjoy doing most?
I love teaching people. The most rewarding part of my job is instructing poll workers on how to carry out the important task of ensuring each eligible citizen of the county gets to exercise their right to vote—fairly, honestly, and impartially. There are only 4 full-time employees in the Board of Elections through the year. During an election cycle, we add 4 temporary office positions and train over 300 poll workers. This trained team ensures ballots are available for roughly 120,000 registered voters. Success boils down to how well prepared everyone is trained.
What is the County core value you believe most relates to the work you do, and why?
Do what’s right, do what matters most, do it together, and do it well. All of them. In elections, integrity, respect, transparency, and professionalism are at the core of how our team serves the community. We protect and respect each voted ballot as they are the voices of the citizens we serve. Our fellow Boards in other counties recognize that Catawba BOE is a leader in our profession and that we continually strive for innovation and excellence. I’m proud to be a part of this team.
What do you like best about working for Catawba County?
As a life-long resident of Alexander County, I commute to Catawba County each workday. It’s the office environment created by the people I work with daily that has kept me here for 18 years. It’s not just Elections staff; it’s fellow workers in other departments and connections with election staff in other counties that I consider friends and colleagues.
What are your past work experiences?
Before joining the Board of Elections staff, I had been a precinct official in Alexander County since the 1990s. I was a store owner in Taylorsville selling gifts, consigned artwork, military surplus and firearms. Since college, I have been a self-employed computer consultant and income tax preparer. In the late 90s I was director of a non-profit child abuse prevention center in Iredell County and have contracted with other non-profit agencies.