When Cindy Ramirez started working in the call center for the Travis County Office of Elections in Texas, she thought she had a good handle on how elections worked. However, she quickly discovered that explaining the massive election code to voters while learning it herself was much harder than she’d expected.
But according to her co-worker, Jacqueline Augenbraun, who nominated Ramirez for AFSCME’s Never Quit Service Award, tackling big challenges is what Ramirez does best.
“Cindy is so dedicated to voters,” says Augenbraun. “She truly goes above and beyond to invest in herself and to know how to communicate to voters.”
Augenbraun met Ramirez, a member of AFSCME Local 1624, in the Ballot by Mail Division of the Office of Elections, where Ramirez moved after a stint at the elections call center two years ago.
The work is challenging: walking Travis County voters through the eligibility requirements to vote by mail, explaining why an application may have been rejected, guiding voters through new elections laws.
It’s work that requires patience, an in-depth understanding of intricate voting laws, and an ability to be cool under pressure, especially during frenzied election seasons.
Luckily, Augenbraun says, Ramirez has these qualities in spades.
“Communicating to voters is hard,” says Augenbraun. “We have to be neutral. What you do for one, you do for all. We have oaths of how to operate in a nonpartisan, unbiased way, so everyone knows what their rights are.”
Ramirez rises to those challenges, while always staying focused on making voting easy and accessible for her community.
Whether it’s translating for Spanish-speaking voters, creating new resources to make her team’s jobs easier, training seasonal workers, Ramirez is a dynamo. What’s more, she’s also got a knack for turning a frustrated voter into a satisfied one.
“This is my work,” says Ramirez. “I want to leave this division with better tools than when I started. This benefits my community.”
And it’s her community that Ramirez is focused on serving. After earning a degree in international relations of the University of Texas-Austin, Ramirez realized that serving at a local level suited her best. One of her first jobs was working for AmeriCorps VISTA, a service program that fights poverty.
“She deserves so much recognition,” says Augenbraun. “I appreciate and am in awe of her. She motives me.”
Ramirez, however, says she wouldn’t be successful without Augenbraun’s mentorship.
“I would not be here with Jacqueline’s support,” says Ramirez.
At the end of the day, the voters of Travis County are lucky to have both of these dedicated public service workers.