The election campaign is over, but the work continues

MOSES LAKE — Rae Ann Journey knows exactly what she’s going to do now that the long, 2020 election has finally crossed the finish line.

“I’m just looking forward to it all being over,” said Journey, treasurer of the Grant County Republican Party and a longtime worker for the campaign of President Donald J. Trump.

“I’m going to embrace unemployment, to tell you the truth, take a few months off and maybe go back to work in February,” she said.

It’s a drizzly Tuesday afternoon, Election Day, and no matter how this ends, Journey said she’s going to take a long vacation.

“I’m going to Cancun for two weeks on Saturday, just going to relax on a beach for a while and then come back and close this down,” she said.

By “this,” Journey means the Grant County GOP’s temporary headquarters on Third Avenue in downtown Moses Lake, opened to great fanfare earlier this summer. Volunteers have come and gone and the curious have come to register to vote, buy campaign swag, get lawn signs and have their questions answered or concerns dealt with, said Lucinda West, a GOP precinct officer.

“Now it’s the end, and I’m down here. We had a good response with our volunteers. It’s not been easy, and there have been people who put in extra time, but the desire has been there to be able to help,” West said.

A few interested voters wander in, including Katie Elder, 30, who said she’d never voted before.

“It didn’t interest me,” she said. “I never thought that, going forward, how much my children are going to be affected by the way things are run. And it’s crazy right now.”

The main crazy that has Elder in the GOP’s temporary headquarters is the closure of the state’s schools in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“My kids are falling behind, and it’s very frustrating as a mother that works full time that doesn’t have a male figure in her life for me to take on all that responsibility as a mom,” Elder said. “I hope that they decide to open these schools soon because our kids are in dire need.”

The county’s Democrats have been busy as well, according to Sylvia Hammond, a longtime party activist and 2018 candidate for the state assembly seat currently held by Alex Ybarra. But they have focused on distributing yard signs, contacting people online, and supporting Eduardo Castañeda-Diaz’s campaign against incumbent Rep. Tom Dent.

“We aren’t planning parties, because of the coronavirus, so we will celebrate – or commiserate – in our homes,” she said.

Hammond said that even as the campaign comes to an end, the party work doesn’t stop. It’s slow work, she explained, but one that’s slowly yielding results.

Personally, Hammond said, she and her husband, who live on a farm about 10 miles outside of Ephrata, are awaiting the birth of a grandchild within the next week, something she said is also taking up much of her time.

“I’m excited about that, and most of my energy, I suppose, is put into keeping the home fires burning,” she said.

Back at the GOP headquarters in Moses Lake, people come and go – including one self-confessed “shy Trump voter” who did not want to give her name and who said she may turn on her DVR to record the election results so she can sleep tonight.

“Not me,” West said. “I’m up for the whole night.”

But West said she’s not going to take any time off either. There’s still party work to do, with the local Republican Party facing some impending changes in its executive board.

“I’m retired, so I’m going to find something else to do,” she said.

And glancing at Journey, she smiles slightly.

“I’m going to just live vicariously through her, and she’s going to have to tell me everything that happens and how much fun she had,” West said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at [email protected].