Inside the cramped Washington County Election Commission Office, employees like Sheila Hayes spend all day doing the same thing, over and over again.

"Going through the filing cabinets and going up and down, up and down," Hayes said.

It's hardly a glamorous job, but for a good two weeks, from nine to five every day, their routine wont change, until of course, the job is done.

"After you look through these files forever, the names start running together," Hayes said.

Hayes and her fellow employees are now the only ones that stand in the way of a wheel tax referendum in Washington County. They're now looking over thousands of signatures. In order for to put the issue of a $50 wheel tax up to a vote, a little more than 3,400 signatures must be legitimate.

After a week of checking, election workers have already confirmed more than 1,300 of the needed signatures. They're looking for three things when it comes to the signatures on the petitions:  matching voter registration cards, correct addresses, and valid signatures.

"We're looking for 3,403 of them," Election Administrator Connie Sinks said.

For the majority of her employees, the process is brand new. The last time Washington County had a referendum push of this magnitude, Ronald Reagan was still president, a gallon of gas cost just a $1.20, and the issue was whether or not the county should have spent $3 million in bonds to buy what is now the Downtown Centre in Johnson City.

Although technology has improved in the last 20 years, it's not nearly enough for employees. They do most of the work by hand.

"We end up running into one another," Hayes said.

Each worker considers herself lucky if she confirms 200 signatures a day, just six percent of the signatures needed to force a referendum. The people behind the petition have made their job a little easier. Almost 70% of the signatures checked so far are legitimate.

"I can't think of any that we've had that they've signed Mickey Mouse or something," Sinks said. 'We've not had that. Evidently, they're taking it pretty seriously."

With more than a third of the work finished, employees expect to wrap up this project next week. If enough of the petitions are approved, the referendum will likely be held in February, during the presidential primary.