Bill Lewers

While I have been a political junkie for as long as I can remember, it was only when I started serving as an election officer that I began to realize the special role these one-day volunteers have in ensuring that Election Day plays out as it should.

For fifteen hours or more, election officers get a ringside seat, as this crazy, mixed-up thing called democracy unfolds before them.

The voters come. They stand in line, quietly. They vote. They leave.

…and that’s how we pick our leaders.

And on that day, they are all equal. The rich. The poor. The well-connected. The marginalized. The healthy. The infirm. The prepared. The ignorant. The gracious. The less-than-gracious. And we election officers are charged with ensuring that each one is treated with accuracy, efficiency, and respect.

When I started to write, it seemed only natural that I should reflect on my own Election Day experiences, which I did in "A Voter’s Journey." But I also wanted to write fiction; to allow my imagination to build on the things I had seen to create stories that would hopefully connect with readers, both inside and outside the election administration community.

The result is the Gatekeepers of Democracy series, which is dedicated to the women and men who serve on Election Day. While the primary purpose of these books is to entertain, they hopefully do so in a way that mirrors the respect I have for the process and the people who make it work.

Right now the series consists of six volumes: "The Gatekeepers of Democracy," "November Third," "Primary Peril," "The Main Event," "Murder at the Polls," and "According to Law." In the meantime, I would encourage anyone who finds these books enjoyable, to consider signing up with their local office of elections. Election Day service is a rich and rewarding experience. Perhaps you will see things that will inspire you to add to the wide-open genre of “election officer fiction.”

In addition, I have written an historical fiction title: "Eighteen Days in New York: A Novel About the 1924 Democratic Convention."