After graduating from the Naval Academy and serving 12 years as a helicopter pilot and instructor, Julie Hendricks has taken on a new commission — poll worker.
By Louis Hansen
Virginia Center for Investigative Journalism at WHRO
In a bland conference room in the Fairfax County Government Center, Navy veteran Julie Hendricks gathered with an array of civic-minded citizens: retirees in sneakers and ball caps, women in headscarves, 20-somethings in dress shoes.
The working mom and Navy wife was juggling her job and all the hidden things necessary to keep her family on task, yet she still found time for another mission: working the polls. On that September evening, Hendricks was training to become one of hundreds of election officials in Virginia’s most populous county during one of the nation’s most divisive presidential elections.
“It’s really about getting in the game yourself,” she said. “Not just sitting around and talking about it and being disgruntled but learning what you can actually do.”
The flood of misinformation from former President Donald Trump and his GOP supporters — including persistent lies about a stolen election and the Jan. 6 insurrection — has unnerved many military veterans.
A Military Times survey of its readers this year found an “alarming” number of respondents who believe in fringe right-wing theories. And while some Republicans have spoken out about the dangers of electing Trump, 3 in 5 vets polled by the Pew Research Center in late August and early September said they support the former president in the upcoming election.
With misinformation often aimed at the military community, the nonpartisan We the Veterans and Military Families stepped in to organize a campaign of civic engagement that aims to promote and support confidence in U.S. elections. The project, Vet the Vote, launched in April 2022 and focuses on recruiting veterans and their family members to become poll workers across the country.
Leaders of the nonprofit knew that former officers and enlisted personnel often rank among the most trusted members of their communities. Bringing them to the polls serves to fill the national shortfall of election workers, offers voters another layer of assurance that U.S. elections are fair and well-run, and extends veterans’ post-military desires for community and mission-driven service.
Because of the rampant rise in disinformation, Hendricks believes that it is important to provide veterans with facts so veterans can be informed as they head to the polls.
Since its inception, Vet the Vote says it has recruited more than 160,000 veterans and their family members as poll workers across the country.
Hendricks, who is director of operations for We the Veterans and Military Families, said the group is not just filling the need for poll workers. “It’s also letting America know that there’s this group of trusted individuals … [and they] are the ones who are actually working the polls,” she said.
Hendricks, 44, became steeped in civic responsibility at an early age, accompanying her father to the polls every Election Day. She chose the Naval Academy after high school because she “really appreciated the discipline and the challenge.”
She spent her Navy career as a helicopter pilot, serving two tours supporting combat troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Leading a helicopter crew gave her a deep appreciation for the camaraderie of service members from different backgrounds serving a common purpose.
“You might not realize how much you depend on each other,” she said. “So you might think that the person who’s holding the controls is kind of the only person who really matters flying the helicopter, and that’s not true at all. Especially when you’re coming in and landing on the ships, you’re relying utterly and completely on the guys in the back.
“You’re trusting each other, literally, with your lives in some cases. You just get really close.”
Hendricks left the service after 12 years to start a family with her husband, an active-duty Navy pilot. Her initial civilian jobs with a military contractor lacked the community-driven purpose she found in the service. She volunteered at community organizations and searched for a satisfying job, joining We the Veterans in 2024.
“I wanted to make sure that I’d be doing something again, whether it was through a volunteer effort or not, where I could stay kind of connected to people coming together, working as a team,” she said.
Hendricks said she has noticed that some people have tuned out the contentious election campaigns, and while she understands the reaction, she knows it’s critical to stay informed.
Hendricks, a former Navy helicopter pilot, waits for new poll worker training to begin in Fairfax County.
“With the kind of polarization and dissonance that is in our country right now, people just say, ‘Oh, I can’t pay attention to that.’ And I get that,” she said. “At the same time, we all care about something, right?”
Hendricks remembers the joy she felt going to vote with her father. He never told her whom he chose on his ballot, but he ingrained in her that voting was part of every citizen’s responsibility. “To me, Election Day has always been almost like this little holiday,” she said.
Today, Hendricks takes her young daughter and son to the polls every year, sharing the same sense of civic responsibility with the next generation.
“Not everyone gets to do it right?” she said. “Not all countries get to have an election day. And so it’s a very special thing.”
Reach Louis Hansen at Louis.Hansen@vcij.org.