Organization a strong trait of Raymond's Town Clerk Sue Look

Editor’s note: This is another in an ongoing series of Windham and Raymond town employee profiles.

By Briana Bizier

Every year, no matter the weather or the items on the ballot, Election Day in Raymond means that the gymnasium at Jordan-Small Middle School is filled with ballots, booths, and smiling election officials who are ready to answer any questions. This organized and welcoming experience is due in large part to Sue Look, Raymond’s Town Clerk.

As Raymond's Town Clerk, Sue Look
oversees elections and organizes the 
agenda and takes minutes for Raymond
Select Board meetings.
PHOTO BY KAELA GONZALEZ

“It isn’t just what you see on election day,” Look said. “There are clerks who come out and help set up beforehand and there are others who process absentee ballots. We have a training before every election for the workers.”

It’s a process that’s quite familiar to Look, who spent five years working in elections at the state level. “I managed the voter registration system and ran a help desk for every town in the state,” Look said.

That experience gave Look a good sense of the problems that tend to arise in local elections.

Sometimes, Look said, a voter is unclear on the strict protocol that must be followed during an election. For example, a ballot cannot be removed from the polling place. “Once you’ve been issued a ballot, your only option is to go behind the guard rail and fill it out,” Look said.

“The only other problem is folks that feel very strongly about an issue on the ballot, and sometimes they will get a little too exuberant in the parking lot, and we have to go out there and tell them to move along. People can be very creative with what they come up with for problems,” Look said. “On the whole, though, people are there to do their civic duty, and we try to make it as pleasant and as easy as we can.”

This commitment to easy and comfortable elections continued throughout the pandemic, when Look and her staff put up additional guard rails to allow people to safely socially distance while they cast their ballots. “We are blessed that we have a nice, big space,” Look added, referring to the Jordan-Small gymnasium.

Look says she’s also grateful for her staff and the volunteers who make these elections possible. “They are dear people,” Look said, “And that’s something that I recommend for everyone, to go and work an election.”

Elections are not the only event on Look’s plate as town clerk, however. She also organizes the Raymond Select Board’s monthly meetings. Look takes the minutes, coordinates with all the people who want to be in the meeting and complies requests for the agenda.

This agenda is important, she said because the Select Board can only discuss and make decisions about the items on that meeting’s public agenda.

“That’s a protection for the citizens,” Look said. “If they look at the agenda and see that the Select Board is discussing, for example, tarring the roads, they can decide whether to attend or not with the assurance that nothing that isn’t on the agenda is going to be discussed at the meeting.”

In addition to organizing these scheduled monthly meetings, and the occasional as-needed emergency meeting, Look also prepares the warrant for Raymond’s annual town meeting on the first Tuesday in June.

“There are a lot of little pieces that people don’t realize,” Look said. “A lot of it has to do with what the statutes say have to happen and in what time frame.” Those statutes were established with the citizens in mind. “It’s set up so that the public has time to listen to it and give input,” Look said.

Look’s history of organizing and planning stretches well beyond her time working in elections at the state level. Although she was born in Maine, Look has lived all over the east coast.

“My dad was in the woolen industry, and we followed the mill closings north,” Look said.

Altogether Look moved 40 times before settling into her current home. “I can pack out a kitchen quick,” she said. “And every time I moved, I would always make sure the beds were made before we finished for the day.”

The skills needed to pack up a household and keep calm while moving have since served Look well as she organizes Raymond’s Select Board meetings and elections. Look, however, gives much of the credit to Raymond residents.

“The town of Raymond has really been very understanding and supportive of all the changes that we’ve had to go through in the last year, and I and all of my staff are very appreciative of that,” Look said. “We’ve had very, very few difficulties when all of the sudden we’re not open, and now we’re doing things in the parking lot, and now we’re doing things over the phone. The town has really pulled together with all of this.” <