County seeking poll workers
By Steve Herring
Published in News on December 13, 2015 3:05 AM
The Wayne County Board of Elections will need nearly 300 polls workers for the 2016 voting season.
To help fill that need a first-ever recruitment campaign is under way, said Beverly York, Wayne County Board of Elections deputy director.
"We are wanting to get out into the community and let the community know that we are looking for poll workers for next year," she said. "Next year is going to be very busy for us.
"We know right now we will have the primary in March, the general (election) in November, and there is also the possibility of a second primary. That would be held in May. There are changes that are taking place in the coming year. So we are looking for community-minded, energetic poll workers."
They also need to be comfortable working on computers, she said.
Using computers to process voters is not only more efficient, it also helps ensure better accuracy, she said.
"We always try to eliminate poll worker errors," Mrs. York said. "We are quickly automating and need in our precincts people who are comfortable using a computer. That they don't have to be an expert, they just need to be comfortable in searching for our voters and putting in data when needed and doing very basic level troubleshooting if something happens during the course of the day.
"We have some poll workers right now who have been working with us in the past. We are hoping that most of them will return for next year, but we always get some attrition or something happens. So we are always looking for new poll workers to add to our rolls. We are really going to need them because all 30 of our precincts are going to be fully staffed."
Poll workers will be needed for early voting as well, she said.
"We have 10 days of early voting in four sites across the county (for the March primary)," Mrs. York said. "Because of the hours that we will be staffing our early voting sites we are going to need quite a few people."
"We may be doing two shifts," elections Director Dane Beavers said. "In November we are going to have at least five one-stop sites. We haven't really nailed that down, but I am sure it will be at least five. We also have to fully staff them."
Poll workers are paid.
"We tend to describe them as volunteers because unfortunately we are not able to pay them a wage that we feel they deserve, but it is sort of a 50-50 tradeoff," Beavers said. "You are volunteering to your community, but you are also being compensated enough to cover your costs and hopefully to have a little left over."
The pay ranges from $100 to $125 on election day depending on the job. Chief judges receive about $125 and assistants receive about $100.
They are also paid to attend mandatory training held at the Board of Elections office, 209 S. William St. Training will start in February.
During early voting poll workers are paid by the hour.
Anyone interested in being a poll worker should call the Board of Elections office at 919-731-1411 or visit the website, www.wayegov.com/boe where the poll worker application can be found.
"We would love to talk to them," Mrs. York said. "I have a more detailed sheet that I will tell them for example what to expect to go through on election day. It is a very long day. Once they report to the precinct they have to stay there all day. You can't to lunch and come back. By law you have to remain there. They work under the direction of the chief judge.
"We try to assign people to their home precinct, but that doesn't always happen. We have to maintain a certain political balance. We like to have a diverse group in our precincts."
Poll workers are expected to be able to lift at least 35 pounds and are asked to be flexible and committed to the process and who can spend a very long day being nonpartisan, she said.
"And they can't be afraid of technology," Beavers said. "We are adding more technology to our polling places. You have to be willing to learn if you are not familiar with it.
"It is a requirement. There is just no way around it. In the past we've had the ability were maybe 50 percent of the folks didn't have to deal with technology."
Those days have passed, he said.
The polls open at 6 :30 a.m. and close at 7:30 p.m. on election day. Workers have to be at the polls by 6 a.m. or earlier and can expect to stay until at least 8:30 p.m.
To work at the polls a person has to be a registered voter in Wayne County.
People who have an interest should not wait to contact the Board of Elections, Mrs. York said.
"We are compiling a staffing list in case we have to look at recruiting for specific areas," she said.