How Our Election Commission Works with Michele Honeycutt

Show Notes

Join Kosta and his guest: Michele Honeycutt, Election Commission Administrator for Putnam County Election Commission.

In this episode: Generally speaking, across the United States, over the past decade the accuracy and legitimacy of our elections has become a point of concern for many. As someone that sees every aspect of our elections, what’s your message to anyone questioning the outcome of an election? How does voter registration work? Can anyone with a driver’s license vote or is there more to the process? How do we know where our polling location is? What if we go to the wrong polling station? Can we still vote?

🇺🇸 ⚠️🗳️ Important Voting and Election Dates in Putnam County:

Presidential Preference Primary and County Primary
Last Day to Register to Vote in this Election: Monday, February 5, 2024
Early Voting Dates: February 14, 2024- February 27, 2024
🗳️ Primary Election Day: Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Federal and State - General Election
Last Day to Register to Vote in this Election: Monday, October 7, 2024
Early Voting Dates: October 16, 2024—October 31, 2024
🗳️ General Election Day: Tuesday, November 5, 2024

Find  more information about the Putnam County Election Commission:
https://putnamcountytn.gov/election-commission

Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a product of Morgan Franklin Media and recorded in Cookeville, TN.

This episode of Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is made possible by our partners at Miss Sallie's Market.

Find out more about Miss Sallie's Market:
https://www.misssallies.com/

What is Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev?

Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a podcast about business, parenting and living life intentionally. We're here every week to bring you intentional conversations on making your own path to success, challenging the status quo, and finding all the ways we're better. Recorded in Cookeville, TN, Kosta joins guests from all walks of life to bring fresh perspective and start your week with purpose. We're better together.

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Michele Honeycutt: There have
been many elections that are

lost or one by one or two but
we've had them here in Putnam

County we've had ties and then a
provisional ballot changes by

one vote. Since I've been here
they've been to tears and cities

that are no and then some cities
you know someone will lose but

you know three or four votes
that's that's major.

Morgan Franklin: Welcome to
Better Together with Kosta

Yepifantsev, a podcast on
parenting, business, and living

life intentionally. We're here
every week to bring you

thoughtful conversation on
making your own path to success,

challenging the status quo and
finding all the ways we're

better together. Here's your
host Kosta Yepifantsev.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Hey, y'all,
it's Kosta today I'm here with

my guest, Michele Honeycutt,
Election Commission

administrator for Putnam County
Election Commission. Michelle,

it goes without saying, as we
enter into the 2024 election

year, the stakes for election
Security and Preparedness has

never been more important. How
is Putnam County preparing for

this election cycle,

Michele Honeycutt: I guess the
first major change we have is we

have new voting machines. And
it's a voter verifiable paper

audit trail. So you'll see it
when you go into the machine,

it's a little bit different, a
whole lot of the machine is the

same. So it's pretty easy to
vote on. But at the end, after

you've finished voting, it's
going to print everything you

chose on a paper that's behind
glass, so you can't get it and

take it with you. And then it's
going to ask you to verify that

that is how you voted. If not,
you can go back change

something, it voids that, and
then print your new ones. So

when you accept it, any of that
your vote, then you push the

casebook button, like always,
and it rolls forward. And that

your vote it stays in there.

That way, if we ever do have
like an audit, we can go back to

those rolls. Yeah.

Kosta Yepifantsev: And the paper
ballots. That's something that

people have been asking for for
some time. Now is paper ballots.

Is that a new thing? Or was it
there in the past elections?

Michele Honeycutt: The voter
verified? Yes. Some places have

at some places you vote on a big
paper ballot marking device. We

don't have that system. We chose
this one, which is the same

system we had only They added
that paper and amplified. It is

correct. Very

Kosta Yepifantsev: nice. That's
great. Generally speaking across

the United States over the past
decade, the accuracy and

legitimacy of our elections has
become a point of concern for

many as someone that sees every
aspect of our elections. What's

your message to anyone
questioning the outcome of an

election? Well,

Michele Honeycutt: but the
second year in a row, Tennessee

has been chosen number one in
the country for election

integrity.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Oh, wow.

Congratulations. That's great.

Michele Honeycutt: So the whole
state Yeah, I mean, the state

has rules we have to follow. And
that helps us all.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Yeah. So
there shouldn't be anybody

that's concerned with the
legitimacy of an election

Michele Honeycutt: outcome. Yes,
no, and we audit everything we

do. When we have a machine. If
we have 100 votes on that

machine. We go to the paper, the
applications that people

complete, and we count those if
there's 100. On the machine,

there's 100 papers, okay, we
verify all that we audit

everything we have.

Kosta Yepifantsev: And this may
be too technical of a question,

but what metrics do they use to
rank Tennessee? Number one, what

are they looking for when
they're doing that?

Michele Honeycutt: Oh, no, it
was the Heritage Foundation.

Okay, that gave it to you. And

Kosta Yepifantsev: that's a
legitimate organization. So it

makes perfect sense. Wonderful.

Let's talk about the important
dates and deadlines for this

year's election. Okay, what
dates should we know and

remember, as voters and what
date should we be aware of if

we're interested in running for
office?

Michele Honeycutt: Okay, if
you're interested in running for

office for this March, you have
missed it. Okay. What positions

were in March that positions are
for the county wide? The

assessor of property criminal
court judge part three, that's a

new position and three school
boards. Oh, wow. Okay, great. So

that's the county one and then
the presidential primary of

course that will be on there. So
that one is over. But in

February the fifth, we started
showing petitions for the August

election that one has a lot of
the state is state and federal

primary. So it will be the US
Senate, US House, sixth

congressional district, the 25th
and 42nd. House. Then we have

the general all the county that
we did. So property assessor,

criminal court judge the school
boards, we also will have the

city so all good has some
positions, Baxter and Monterey.

Kosta Yepifantsev: And what's
the filing deadline if you want

to run for president? And now I
can't I can't run for president

because I wasn't born in
America. So I'm not asking for

myself, but just in general, if
anybody from Cookeville wants to

run for president and be on the
ballot

Michele Honeycutt: for the
primary course that's over.

Okay. Because today we've
received our precinct ballots.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Yes, nice. I

Michele Honeycutt: believe that
you can run as an independent

I'm not positive when that
deadline is. It may be an

August, okay,

Kosta Yepifantsev: just a call
to action here. So you can't run

for school board. You can't run
for property assessor. Those

deadlines have passed by
February 15. You can still run

for name those positions off one
more time for the primaries.

They really

Michele Honeycutt: fit. That's
where you can pick it up. Yes,

that's positions are a state, US
Senate, US House which is the

sixth congressional, the 25th.

And the 42nd. House of
Representatives. The city of all

good they have two council
members, town of Baxter has a

mayor and two Council town of
Monterey has mayor and four

Aldermen.

Kosta Yepifantsev: The only
reason that I bring it up and

I'm not like digging too deep in
here, I'm just wanting to make a

point. A lot of people have said
that they wanted to run and so I

was expecting them to file by
the deadline and they didn't

file. So if y'all are listening
in, you're like I want to run

for office. Remember, if you
don't file by February 5, you

ain't run

Michele Honeycutt: No, you have
to pick up a February 5 When the

deadline is April the fourth?

Gosh, okay,

Kosta Yepifantsev: good. Yeah.

So if you don't file by April,
the fourth you ain't run, right?

That's

Michele Honeycutt: right. All
right. The only other way you

can get on the ballot is to be a
write in candidate. And before

every election 50 days before
the deadline, you have to come

in our office, fill out a
certificate of bride in and then

Kosta Yepifantsev: you can be
right and you think we'll see

Kanye West on the ballot again,

Michele Honeycutt: I haven't
seen him yet. Not on this.

Kosta Yepifantsev: So what is
the actual day that we're going

to be voting, okay,

Michele Honeycutt: but this
coming election, it's March the

fifth, and that you would go to
your precincts that day. Okay.

If you don't know your precinct
and you can't find your voter

card call our office will tell
you. But there is also a look up

on the Secretary of State's
website. And there's a little

button that says Mr. Register to
vote, if you click that you put

a little bit of your info in and
it tells you your address your

verify on that. And it tells you
your precinct and the address of

Kosta Yepifantsev: that website
is sos.tn.gov. The website

Michele Honeycutt: for the
lookup is tn mat.tn.gov/voter

lookup nice, but it's a link
from Secretary of State's

Kosta Yepifantsev: the general
election, when is voting day for

general? The

Michele Honeycutt: November
election is November 5, wow.

It's gonna be great. We do have
early voting, though. And that

starts on Valentine's Day. So
February 14, through the 27th.

And we encourage people to vote
early because we have 10

machines in there, we can move
people through the line quicker

than if you're at your precinct
where you're standing in a lot,

right? Even if we have lines
were moving that fast. So

Kosta Yepifantsev: I love
elections. It's almost like a

like a sporting event for me,
you know, and they have kind of

gamified it, you know, so like,
if you see the guy like Steve

tenakee, you know, he's like
super, like hyper charged, like

that guy drinks so much coffee,
or something, because he is all

over the place the entire time.

So two questions. Do you love
elections? Do you watch him on

TV? And also like, do you stay
up until you actually hear the

results? Or presidential? Not

Michele Honeycutt: always
because it's a while sometimes

before you know it, right? And
we are exhausted by the time we

leave. It's funny because many
times I'll leave that night and

my husband's like, why one here?

I'm like, I have no idea. I just
know it's done. We ballots Do

you know, and I have to
literally the next day, I'll go

in and start looking. You know,
unless there's something I'm

really interested in then I'm
keeping up with that.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Yeah, well
anyway, on January 15, there's

the Iowa caucus. And we've got a
special event Morgan and I and

some friends called steaks and
cakes. So we'll be making some

steaks and we're gonna get a
cake from Jamie's eatin sweet

and we are going to watch the
Iowa caucus. It's gonna be

really interesting. How does
voter registration work? Can

anyone with the driver's license
vote? Or is there more to the

process? How do we know where
our polling location is? What if

we go to the wrong polling
station? Can we still vote,

okay? To

Michele Honeycutt: be able to
register to vote, you need to be

at a US citizen, not convicted
of a felony. But if you have

been convicted, you should at
least have your rights restored.

Okay. And then you can and also,
for us to register, you have to

be a Putnam County resident,
they can come in our office and

do it. The newest thing is the
online voter registration, which

is so nice, it's go vote tn.gov.

And so it's so simple for people
to do that. You can also do it

at different departments, such
as safety, and DHS TennCare.

Health Department, a lot of
those will do it. If you want to

know if you register to vote,
I'm gonna send you back to the

Secretary of State's page, cuz
it's a button that says Mr.

registered to vote. And that's
the easiest way to look up. And

it will tell you you're pressing
a lot of people, if they're not

doing that, they can call us,
we'll tell them if your

registered call before the
deadline, call before the fifth

so that we can get you in and
get you register. If you show up

at your precinct to vote, you do
have to have either a Tennessee

driver's license, or a US issued
photo ID. Okay. So you can use a

passport, any military card, you
know, different things like

that, as long as it's US
government or Tennessee, not a

driver's license from another
state, right? If you show up at

the wrong place, they're going
to send you to the correct

place. Nice. Yeah, because you
have to vote in your precinct.

Kosta Yepifantsev: For anyone
not familiar with what happens

after you cast your vote, I'd
like you to explain how the

process works, especially for
someone that's wondering how

their vote is counted and
reported in the presidential

election, please start at the
beginning of the process and

walk us through it. Of

Michele Honeycutt: course, they
would show up at the polls on

Election Day and vote. If it's
election day, anyone in line by

7pm will get to vote. So if
there's 50 people in line at

seven, there's going to be an
election official that gets at

the end of that line, everyone
in front of them gets to vote,

no one behind them. Okay. So
when everyone is finished

voting, and it's after seven,
the precinct closest down, they

start tallying the machines.

They put, it's a card that goes
in each machine, and it closes

that out. And it's putting the
votes and totals on that card.

They gather all their supplies,
pack it all back up like we sent

it, then they come into our
office right after that. So

usually by 730, we'll have one
or two precincts just depending

on how far where they are. So
they start coming in. We have

people in the front lobby,
checking everything they're

bringing it in, because they
sign out what they're taking how

many machines I'm a polpette,
everything. So we're checking

everything back in, those tally
cards are in an envelope.

Jennifer's usually the one that
counts those and make sure

everything's in there, all the
cards we have to account for.

Someone brings me the talent
cards in the back room. And we

have a standalone computer that
rates those cards, so it's never

connected to the internet. So we
read those, we print off the

report, then usually Megan,
someone else will take that

report. And we have to log into
the state and type in the totals

for all the candidates that
they're keeping up with the

early voting machines. Those in
all the absentee so the male

nursing home, everything, those
are counted by an absentee

counting board that Jennifer
will talk about later, okay, and

they're locked in the back room
all day till at least seven.

They're counting the early
voting machines. And they're

doing all the absentees. So when
they're all done, they come out,

we enter that into the system to
that standalone computer. After

we get all our results. And they
print the reports are counting

IT department comes out for that
night. And they help us in case

we have any kind of security
issue, which we never have,

thank goodness, but they are
there. And like I said, our

stuff is not connected to the
internet. But we do have a

website. So they have a
different computer that's

connected to the internet. And
we give them the results and

they enter it on our website. So
if you want results, that's the

quickest ways to watch our
website because they're doing it

they're

Kosta Yepifantsev: nice, but you
did forget one very important

part. Yes, the sticker. Oh, the
advert it's ticking. Yes. I mean

that I mean honestly, like some
years that's the only reason

that it goes just to get
sticker. You know what I'm

saying? Now, that's great. Yeah,
everyone, everyone should should

vote and you get a sticker. It's
like going to the doctor and

getting a lolly Pop incentives
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We're also joined today by

Jennifer Murphy, Assistant
Administrator for the Putnam

County Election Commission.

Jennifer, a significant part of
your role is managing absentee

ballots. Will you tell us about
these ballots and how they're

utilized in Putnam County.

Jennifer Murphy: Okay, so
anybody could get an absentee

ballot if they request it, okay.

And they meet one of several
reasons which there's many, many

reasons, but our most popular
reasons are, if you're over 60

years of age, or you're going to
be outside the county during all

hours of early voting, and on
election day, that's two of our

most popular, we also have
absentee ballots for military

voters, Overseas Citizens,
there's many, many, many

reasons. So to get an
application, you can go to our

website and print one out, you
can call our office, we'll mail

it to you, you can come by and
pick one up, you have to fill

that out. It's just like voting
check if you want to primary or

not choose your reason sonnet we
go through and check these very

thoroughly, we will then mail
you a ballot. If you meet all

the qualifications and we
accepted your application, the

ballots, we normally start
milling those out, it's about 45

days before every election. So
with those if you have your

request in by seven days before
Election Day, which we want you

to do it well before that. So as
long as you've got your ballot

application in, we want you to
get all this done well before

the seven days, I'm gonna say
that again. But everything has

to go through the mail when
you're with the ballot. So we

have to mail the ballot to you
you have to mail it back in the

ballot has to be in our office
by election day for us to count

it. If we get it after election
day, there's no way we can count

it. We also this is a part of
absentee two's, we also go to

all Lawson's nursing homes,
assisted living, and homes for

the aged. In Putnam County, we
go to these facilities and we

vote these people in person just
to make it a little easier for

them. It's just a courtesy for
them. They can still come to our

office and vote in person if
they want to there. But it's

it's just easier to go there and
let them do

Kosta Yepifantsev: it and talk a
little bit about that process.

Because we spoke on it earlier.

What does that look like?

Jennifer Murphy: So when we go
we have a set schedule, we try

to go the week before usually
early voting. But we out myself

go with a Republican and a
Democrat volunteer, we'll go we

set up we take ballot boxes with
us. It's the whole process. It's

a private area. So we're doing
one at a time. We're still

checking information. They're
choosing what they want. We're

putting it in an envelope, we're
putting it in a ballot box, and

then we bring the locked ballot
box back to the office and lock

it back up.

Kosta Yepifantsev: It's amazing.

So one more question real quick.

Do other states do it
differently than Tennessee?

Because, you know, obviously,
there was a ton of stuff in the

last election cycle about mail
in ballots, and I don't want

anybody to get confused. So what
makes Tennessee different from

other states when it comes to
mail in ballots?

Jennifer Murphy: They all do do
it differently. But I do not

know how every state does it. I
just know that our state there's

no way to cheat per se, right.

Everything is a checks and
balance. Everything's accounted

for. Just like we were talking
about earlier in balancing. I

still have those applications to
balance on election day. We

count applications, ballots,
even the envelopes. We're

counting everything Triple
Tom's, even when we go into the

counting board, and they're
reading the cards through our

scanner, because that's how
we're going to count them, we're

still counting them there, we
still have a number that they

tell us this is this, how many
cards you read are not counted,

and we check another balance
there. So that's just part of

it's a checks and balance. Yeah,

Kosta Yepifantsev: I will say
just like these ballot boxes, I

remember like, during the
pandemic, like you would just

have a ballot box in the middle
of the street, you know, and

people be walking past and
throwing stuff in there, you

know, like slices of pizza and
mail in ballots. And while we're

on the topic of all the things
that happened during the

pandemic, you know, some people
were concerned that you could

get a mail in ballot, and you
can then go and vote in person

and essentially vote twice or
double. How does the Putnam

County Election Commission
prevent that from happening?

Jennifer Murphy: So if I'll mail
you a ballot, you're marked in

our computer, you you've got a
flag per se on our computer. So

if you come into early voting,
and you try to fill out your

application, and they pull you
up, they see that flag and they

come and get me basically, and I
go out, and I'll just say, Hey,

we've mailed you a ballot, and
they'll give me their reason

that they're there. And if they
still want to continue to vote,

they vote a provisional ballot.

Okay, so provisional ballots are
not counted until the day after

Election Day. And when people
are mailed a ballot and they

vote a provisional ballot,
that's to ensure that they don't

try to do the provisional
ballot, and then also mail their

ballot back, and we counted
Election Day. So even if they

did a provisional and mail their
ballot, we're still only

counting one. That's the catch.

Kosta Yepifantsev: So last
question, I promise. And you may

not know this, because it's kind
of technical. So of all of the

votes, so there was 33,000
people that voted. What

percentage of that is mail in
and absentee?

Jennifer Murphy: Oh, my
goodness, I do not know the

percentage of that one. November
2020. was by far the biggest one

ever. But I do not know the
percentage of

Kosta Yepifantsev: that it's
under 10%. Like you guys aren't

processing 3000 mail in and
absentee ballots, right?

Jennifer Murphy: We did probably
24 2600 in November of that

year. 22. Barely, okay. It was
like maybe 400. Nice.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Very cool.

Let's look at some data from
Putnam County in 2020. There

were 47,956 registered voters of
which 33,817 voted in the

presidential election. That's a
voter turnout of 70.5%, ranking

higher than the national turnout
of 2020, which was 66.7%. I want

to commend your team for such an
incredible turnout. And your

opinion, how do we get as close
as possible to 100% voter

turnout and 2024 always shot?

No.

Michele Honeycutt: The you know,
we try to get people registered.

Every year we go to all the high
schools in the county, we

register 18 year olds, if
they're close to 18, they can

fill out the form will hold it
till their date of birth. We do

that we get on the radios and
tell them about the registration

deadline. We put stuff in the
paper. We're doing this. We try

to get people to register. And
of course, getting them there to

vote. I don't know. I feel like
it's a duty early. I know it's a

broad range. But I don't think
it's a duty that affects

everything. Well. I

Kosta Yepifantsev: think people
don't recognize there's a couple

of things that I want to ask
you. But I want to say something

first. They don't realize like
when I talked to my parents, I

grew up in the Soviet Union.

Granted, they voted just like
they vote now in Russia. But you

know, if you didn't vote for
the, for the current candidate,

you were gonna get a knock on
the door by the KGB, you know

what I'm saying? So, yeah, like
the fact that we have an

opportunity as Americans to
dictate who our leader is, is

huge. Yes. You know, and you
shouldn't take it for granted.

And I think it's important to
point out that people give their

lives for us to be able to have
that privilege as well. Yes, I

do. What I am curious about
Tennessee, when I look at the

national statistics, it ranks
pretty low on voter

participation relative to the
other states, but these stats

are gangbusters. So two
questions. Is this normal? These

70% voter turnout, and you've
been doing this for a while.

When did you start with the
election commission? 98. Okay,

so you've been doing it since
1998. What trend Have you seen?

Have you seen a consistent
increase or a stagnation and an

increase or where are the
inflection points since You've

been involved.

Michele Honeycutt: I do think
we've had an increase. But I do

think that's because our
population has grown. Okay. We

always are more busy on November
elections, there are people that

we have registered that will not
vote in a primary interested in

so they don't vote in my room or
they don't vote and I don't

know. They'll just vote in
November. And I will say

November 2020, we were so high,
but most of the counties in

Tennessee were okay. I think it
was just the presidential

candidate. Right. And it drew a
lot of people out.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Are you are
you excited for the 2024?

election year? Excited? Anxious?

Michele Honeycutt: I'm excited,
ready to go. We're gonna be

slammed in November.

Kosta Yepifantsev: I'm sure you
will be I'm sure I'm sure you'll

probably break another record.

Before we wrap up, I want to
talk about the importance and

significance of free and fair
elections. Voting is a

privilege. One I personally
never take for granted. What's

your message to anyone that
still doubts the power of their

vote?

Michele Honeycutt: Well, there
have been many elections that

are lost or one by one or two,
but we've had them here in

Putnam County, we've had ties,
and then a provisional ballot

changes by one vote. Since I've
been here, there have been two

tasks and cities that are newer,
and then some cities, you know,

someone will lose, but, you
know, three or four votes,

that's that's major.

Kosta Yepifantsev: Yeah, even
like the city council, this most

recent city council election,
the difference between somebody

getting in and not was only
like, you know, I think 117

votes or something like that.

Sometimes it's much less. Yeah,
please, please, please, if you

take anything away from this
episode, please go and vote,

please be civically engaged. And
make sure that you are a part of

the process. Otherwise, just
don't complain. Right. At the

age old adage, yeah. So
Michelle, does your voter

registration ever expire? And
what are the early voting dates

for the November election? Okay,

Michele Honeycutt: November,
early voting dates are October

16. Through October 31 outlines
last day, and I'm telling you

they need to vote early. Yeah.

Because if you wait for election
day, you're gonna have much

longer long, and they're slower.

Yeah. I mean, not that the
workers are slower, but they

don't have the number of
machines.

Kosta Yepifantsev: So And does
your voter registration ever

expire?

Michele Honeycutt: No, it does
not expire. The only thing is,

if you move, you need to let us
know and update your address.

Because what we do if you've not
voted and you've not asked for a

new card, we've not heard from
you. No contact in four years.

That will be you know, two
federal elections. We are going

to send a mailer out that is not
affordable. So we're sending it

to the address we have on file.

If you're not there, the post
office returns it to us sign

it's undeliverable. Once we get
that by law, we make your status

inactive. Okay. Now, if you're
inactive to more federal

elections, so we've not heard
from you in eight years or more.

At that point, we can purge you.

Okay. Okay. So just keep your
address up today. Yeah. Well,

Kosta Yepifantsev: most likely,
if you haven't voted in eight

years, you probably live in like
Costa Rica or something. And you

probably have moved. Right? You
probably are a different

country. Yeah. So when we talk
about poll workers, you know,

how do you apply to become a
poll worker and help out with

elections? Do they get paid?

What are the hours? Is it a fun
job, stuff like that,

Michele Honeycutt: of course,
it's a fun job. We have a form,

they can complain. So they can
come in our office and do it,

we'll email it to them, we'll
mail it to them whatever they

want. And it is on our website,
so they can pull it off of

there. That way, we have your
info. Right now, we do not need

a lot of workers. But you know,
this is just the beginning. So

by the time election day comes,
a lot of people make it sick,

something comes up, so they have
to cancel. So at that point, we

do need those spare workers. So
we need them. We have different

positions, they do get paid a
little not a lot. I guess the

lowest position is 120. For the
day, the highest is probably the

officer who's in charge of the
preset who's 150 plus 15. For

every machine they have,

Kosta Yepifantsev: but it's a
labor of love. Yeah, it was a

long time to hearing how long is
the

Michele Honeycutt: pulse up in
at nine but they'll gonna be

their boss seven to get these
these new machines are big,

they're heavy. So we are going
to have to have some people

deliver it to some of the
precincts. So we ask that

they're going to be there by
seven and if the last person

votes at seven, then you know
they might be back at our office

at eight. Okay,

Kosta Yepifantsev: nice. But I
mean, it's important and it

matters. And if you haven't
signed up to be a poll worker,

you totally should. As of right
now, it seems like you guys are

Michele Honeycutt: worried that
that will change any day. Yeah.

Okay. Well,

Kosta Yepifantsev: Morgan and I
will gladly volunteer. And I'm

sure Jessica will too, and that
you have to be over the age of

18. Right? Oh, no. 16 years. 16.

Okay, great. Yes. Good. Very
good. So we always like to end

the show on a high note. Who is
someone that makes you better

when you're together?

Michele Honeycutt: It's gonna be
my family. They know what I do.

They support me and they know
it's important. That's who makes

me better all my family. Also, I
do feel like when I'm around

election officials, because they
know what's important. They are

Kosta Yepifantsev: Thank you to
our partners Miss Sallie’s

pretty much volunteering. I
mean, you know, they get paid a

Market for presenting this
episode. I hope it’s no secret

by now, I don’t know my way
around the kitchen. However, I

do know my way to the kitchen.

That’s where Miss Sallie’s
little and they're excited about

the job they want to do. Yeah.

Market comes in. With fresh,
locally sourced to-go meals made

daily, I don’t have to worry
about my cooking skills getting

in the way of our eating skills.

Open 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM
Tuesday through Saturday, Miss

Sallie’s Market is located in
the heart of Downtown Gainesboro

with free community tastings
every Thursday from 4-6. Find

out more about vendors,
offerings and weekly specials

at: www.misssallies.com

Morgan Franklin: Thank you for
joining us on this episode of

Better Together with Kosta
Yepifantsev. If you've enjoyed

listening and you want to hear
more, make sure you subscribe on

Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or
wherever you find your podcasts.

Leave us a review or better yet,
share this episode with a

friend. Today's episode was
written and produced by Morgan

Franklin post production mixing
and editing by Mike Franklin.

Want to know more about Kosta
visit us at

kostayepifantsev.com. We're
better together. We'd like to

remind our listeners that the
views and opinions expressed

during this episode are those of
the individual speakers and do

not necessarily represent or
reflect the official policy or

position of this show its
producers or any related

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our discussions may touch on

various topics of interest,
please note that the content is

intended to inspire thought
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Specifically, nothing heard on
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advice. We encourage our
listeners to consult with a

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