Three days a week, Mac McGowan is the first person in Muscogee County’s election office, showing up at 6:30 a.m.
Working in a side office lined with racks he made himself, the 96-year-old maintains the registrations of Muscogee’s 135,000 voters.
It’s a hybrid system that scans registrations for entry into a digital system but also contains more than 500,000 voting cards, all maintained by McGowan.
He keeps the registrations up to date and organized. He also removes voters for various reasons, including because they died or committed felonies.
McGowan has done the work for more than 2 1/2 decades, after retiring from the insurance industry. In order to keep his Social Security benefits, he’s had to cut down to 30 hours a week. Still, he tries to maximize that time by skipping his lunchbreak.
Election workers have faced difficult times in recent years.
Last year, as Georgia counties dealt with both the COVID-19 pandemic and a chaotic campaign season, many of them lost election workers, most of them seniors who helped run the polls.
But McGowan kept coming into the office as more voters, spurred on by a tight presidential election, came in to register.
McGowan says he enjoys his job, but he also says managing registrations “is tedious work.”
“People don’t understand what we actually do,” he said.
Georgia’s election system has drawn fire from critics who oppose the cancellation of the registrations of inactive voters as part of the state’s “use it or lose it” law, calling it voter suppression.
Credit: Nathan Posner
Credit: Nathan Posner
But McGowan says the process provides voters opportunities to ensure they are not removed unfairly by sending them letters notifying them that their status is set to change.
“The No. 1 thing (people) should know is that their vote is secure,” he said.
McGowan’s continued service surprises no one in the election office. Service to his country has been a mainstay in McGowan’s life.
Guy “Mac” McGowan was born in 1925 in Alabama and grew up in a split log cabin in the country before moving to Dothan, in the southeast corner of the state.
In 1941, at age 16, he joined the Navy.
The following year, he was assigned to the USS Reno, and he served in the Pacific through the end of the war as a second-class signalman helping to communicate orders from the captain.
McGowan saw plenty of action, including battles in the Philippines, Guam and Leyte Gulf.
After his ship was hit by torpedoes, he had to swim for safety.
Credit: Nathan Posner
Credit: Nathan Posner
When McGowan got home, he immediately married Frances, his wife for “72 years, eight months and six days” — as he likes to say — before she died in 2018.
He and Frances started working as volunteers during Muscogee’s elections over 35 years ago.
It was through that work that he met Nancy Boren, the county’s election director for the past 26 years.
Boren says that after McGowan retired, he approached her about work.
“You know, I’ve got the desire to work,” he told her. “I’ll be here every day, you can depend on me.’
McGowan started as a temp during election season, but he quickly moved to full time and reorganized the county’s voter registration filing system.
The first three days of the week, McGowan unlocks the building.
Upon arrival in the office, he often checks the news to see “if anyone has been murdered in Columbus.” He answers any phone calls to the office, reminding callers that the office doesn’t actually open for a few more hours.
McGowan is known by his co-workers for his work ethic and a pleasant demeanor.
The elections office has become like family for McGowan, especially now that Frances is gone.
“I enjoy people,” he said, “and I love every one of them in here.”
He has formed some close relationships in the office, including Roderich Winfrey, who does maintenance in the building and is often the second person to arrive.
Winfrey describes McGowan as a “real fighting man” and “a real good guy.”
He appreciates the advice he’s gotten from McGowan.
“He tells you what’s on his mind,” Winfrey said.
McGowan has also formed a bond with Tscharner Love. The two have both lost spouses in recent years, and by helping each other overcome their loss, they’ve become close friends despite a nearly 50-year age difference.
“Mr. Mac,” as Love calls him, has gotten to know her family and kids.
Love describes McGowan as “always seeing the bigger picture and the light at the end of the tunnel.”
McGowan doesn’t need the money but has resisted full retirement — although he admits he is now thinking about it.
He says the only reason he plans to retire is if they take away his driver’s license at age 102.
Until then, he will keep doing what he thinks is necessary.
“I feel my job is important,” he said, “because I am trying to keep democracy safe in our life.”
