KCEB staffers recently attended the Missouri Urban Board & County Clerks Conference in St. Louis, MO. Conference workshops focused on measuring election performance, campaign finance, sunshine law, best election practices, and legislative updates. The conference allowed staff members the opportunity to network with other election boards and bring back beneficial information to better serve the voters of Kansas City. KCEB staffers are already looking forward to the next conference.

     The Kansas City Board of Election Commissioners held its Election Worker Appreciation Ceremony at Center High School on Friday, June 28, 2013. This ceremony occurs every four years after a presidential election cycle. Election workers were honored and recognized for their untiring service provided to the voters of Kansas City. The ceremony consisted of guest speakers, a patriotic musical performance, and an election worker video that captured key moments of election workers on Election Day. Following the ceremony, everyone gathered for refreshments and were awarded a certificate and lapel pin. KCEB is truly grateful for all of its election workers. Elections would not be possible without them!

     Many of you know the friendly face of Joyce Taylor as one of the Data Services Clerks at the Kansas City Election Board. Joyce was born and raised right here in Kansas City, Missouri. Joyce was adopted at 6-weeks-old and had three other siblings. She grew up enjoying grade school, singing in the church choir, and meeting professional musical artists. Joyce graduated from Lincoln High School. She enjoyed playing 

violin and flute in the orchestra and taking foreign language classes. Joyce enjoyed her foreign language classes the most, so she ended up attending Central Missouri State College to pursue her education in studying English, Spanish, and French.

     In her early 20's, she traveled to Washington, D.C. for vacation. She ended up loving it and staying there for 12 years. Ironically, she previously turned down a scholarship to Howard University. 

     Joyce began her career path with IBM as an Administration Specialist and Call Center Manager. She ended up working for the company for 30 years. Joyce then taught elementary school for a couple of years, where she really enjoyed teaching foreign language. Now she works here at the Election Board. She started as a File Clerk with additional duties during election season as a Phone Bank Coordinator, and now is a Data Services Clerk. She enjoys this position the most because she enjoys entering information into the system and talking to voters on a daily basis. "I enjoy learning the ins and outs of city and state government and helping voters," said Joyce. You can always find Joyce as one of the die-hard Kansas City Chiefs football fans in the office through her daily Chiefs attire during football season.

     On Election Day, Joyce's primary job is to answer calls from voters and to assist with their questions. "I look forward to helping voters exercise their legal right to vote and the adrenaline rush of all the activity that happens on Election Day," said Joyce. Joyce also enjoys when the green bags with the memory cards arrive on election night because that is when the votes begin to be tallied.

     Joyce has served at the Election Board for 18 years. You can always find her helping voters at the front counter. Over her lifetime, some words of wisdom that she would like to share would be that "Nothing is impossible with hard work and dedication. A failure is just a stepping stone to greatness." In her life, she is most grateful for her three children, adopted parents, and how she has lived for 67 years. The Election Board is grateful to have a hard worker like Joyce as one of its team members!