CHARLESTON, WV (WOWK) – For the last few months 13 News has been working to honor heroes in our community with our 13 Gives Back Award, recognizing community members who step up in times of trouble.

Today, Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick accepted the 13 Gives Back Award on behalf of all poll workers and county clerks across West Virginia who dedicated their time in the midst of the pandemic to make sure voters had a safe and authentic voting experience. Secretary of State Mac Warner sent this message thanking all involved.

“Thank you for doing that job and then just for being so dedicated and staying there on the job throughout the day enforcing the rules making sure there were no issues,” Warner said.

McCormick has not had a day off in quite some time and has been dedicated to making sure that things go the way they’re supposed to go this year. She says this election year has been difficult, but worth the work.

“It’s been a rough year, but we made it. I have wonderful employees, we’ve had great poll workers, so it takes a whole county to run an election,” McCormick said. “I think we really enjoyed it because we did a good job we feel like.”

Their work still is not done. They are currently waiting for the voting certification to happen.

“It takes a lot of people about 1,000 people to open up on election day for us, and they all worked hard and were dedicated,” McCormick said.

If you have someone in your community you would like to nominate you can head to our website wowktv.com and click the community tab.