Interview

“Be part of the process”

Woodell shares over 45 years of experience

By Derek Yee

From the May 2008 Print Edition

This month, the California Patriot had the privilege of sitting down with Anne Woodell, who has served as a longtime Republican volunteer in Oakland and throughout Alameda County. She wears many hats — she currently serves as the secretary of the Alameda County Republican Party, treasurer of the Piedmont Area Republican Women, and secretarytreasurer of the Oakland-Piedmont Republican Club. After graduating from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Woodell and her husband relocated to Berkeley. She has been active in local politics at the grassroots level since 1960. Woodell stresses the importance of the “Get Out The Vote” campaign.

California Patriot: How did you get involved as a Republican volunteer?

Anne Woodell: Growing up in Ann Arbor, my parents were not very involved in politics but my friends’ parents were active. Practically everyone was Republican, so that was all I knew. I met my husband and got married. He had a job in Berkeley, so we moved out here. I did not know anyone when we first moved here. I started working at UC Berkeley in charge of the women’s residence halls in 1959. On University Day, 1960, Gus Hall, the Communist Party chair, was the guest speaker, and I was shocked when I saw him on the steps of Sproul Hall. When I shared this with my conservative co-worker, she said, “you need to join the Piedmont Area Republican Women.” I joined the group and have been active since then.

CP: Why did you get involved?

AW: The Berkeley campus is what really got me fired up about politics. In 1960, during the Kennedy-Nixon election, I signed my husband and myself up as poll workers to help observe and tally the count of the ballots once the polls closed. When we arrived at the polling place, we were split up into two teams of four. My husband worked on the non-partisan ballots and I worked with the presidential ballots. The inspector on my team was a Democrat, and she tried to get me to observe the other workers. When the votes were finally counted, there was a discrepancy of 13 votes. I refused to sign the paper certifying the election. I insisted on watching the inspector, and we finally got an accurate count. I think that Nixon should have won the 1960 election.

CP: How have you been involved with the Get Out The Vote operation?

AW: I currently serve as the Alameda County Republican Party “GOTV” coordinator for all campaigns. I organize precinct workers to contact the Republicans to get absentee voters to send in their ballot and the check the polls on Election Day and get the Republicans out who have not voted.

Back in 1961, I took a day off of work to work on a special election in the Merced-Turlock area. I went with my friend to walk precincts. At one house, we met a woman with five children, who said that she was waiting for her husband to return so that she could vote. I told her that my friend would watch her children while I would drive her to the polling place. When we returned, my friend was relieved — the five children were quite a handful. That same day we met a man who had been paid by the Democrats to get out the vote. He offered his precinct list to us since we were doing “the same thing” and we continued to call on the Republicans only. Later, at the victory party at the Gallo Winery, we found out that the Republican won by just 41 votes. That’s when I became a believer in GOTV.

In 1968 I went to the Central Committee because they were hiring a paid precinct director. At that time, there were just four women on the committee. Women were not as involved in politics like they are nowadays. When I spoke with the chairman, he thought that a law student would be an ideal candidate for the position, but he assured me that he would be picking my brain to help train the director. I said that I would like to apply for the position and the chairman said that men would not want to work for a woman. I informed him that I was applying for the position. I interviewed with a search committee, who recommended my approval at the Central Committee meeting. Ironically, a woman spoke against me, echoing the concern of the chairman. The head of the search committee said that discrimination against women would violate the Civil Rights Act, and I was selected for the job. I was precinct director between 1968 and 1972 and recruited and coordinated 4,000 volunteers.

CP:What was the most interesting election that you have worked on?

AW: I have been a delegate five times to the Republican National Convention. In 1976 I represented California as a delegate for Governor Reagan in Kansas City. The California delegation was the largest, with 189 delegates — we had 11 buses of people! We were spread out across four different hotels. When we arrived at the convention we met the Illinois delegation, who were supporting Gerald Ford. They had been instructed that they could not talk to us, which we thought was strange. During the convention, we were put into squads of seven, and we went to talk to the undeclared delegates. It was so much fun. I met a lot of people across the state. On Thursday night, when President Ford made his speech, he allowed Governor Reagan to say a few words. That is when Reagan made his famous “City on a Hill” speech. It sent chills through me. As we were leaving, the Illinois delegation came up to us and said that they felt bad for not talking to us. So they threw a party for us in the parking lot at 2 in the morning. That year’s convention was kind of a moral victory. There will never be one like it again. Over the years, there have really been some great experiences, meeting wonderful people.

CP:What advice can you give to college students?

AW: All citizens, especially college students, need to understand the greatness of this country. Our forefathers had such wisdom and incredible dedication. They had firm beliefs about how the government should be. I believe that it is about the individual power of the person — their beliefs.

CP: Any final thoughts?

AW: I just want to inspire people to get involved and be a part of the process. You can make a difference!

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