Community Chat

[Kachina624]

Too much close personal contact with strangers.  That's probably why they desperately need workers.  Nobody wants to risk their life.

[BirkiLady]

I loved working the Polls and did so when we lived in IL, PA, Ohio and back to Lincoln for over 15 years. It was fun and helpful (mostly for the elderly).

I've been voting my mail for the past 10-12 years, which I feel the State of Nebraska should adapt as a cost-savings method as well as a safety measure for the health of all Polls workers and those voting. It's being discussed and will be determined by the turn-out vs. those requesting mail-in votes for the next elections. Seems a little late, but better late than never!

[Puppy Lips]

Thank you all for your replies, comments, and suggestions. I know better what to expect now. I hope that the voting goes smoothly all across the country. It will be interesting, if nothing else!

[masque]

I was Judge of Elections in my precinct when I lived in PA.

As the person in command of the polling place, the duties of the Judge of Elections are as follows:

Pick up the voter registration binder and other paperwork from a designated place;
Verify the voting machine serial numbers against the keys and documentation;
Swear in the poll workers, assign duties and have them sign their oaths of office;
Schedule relief periods and fill any vacancies in the poll staff;
Set up the polling place and machines;
Open the doors promptly at 7 AM;
Spend the day helping neighbors vote;
Close the polls promptly at 8 PM;
Tally the votes and seal the machines;
Prepare and post the official returns;
Return all voting materials to the designated site.

[ozarkgirl]

Yes am and will be a poll worker this primary in August (Missouri). This is one thing I do that I really want  to do and they provide masks, hand sanitizer,Everything us workers need.  If the voters would follow the distancing rules there would be less problems. Really not much difference than going to Walmart for your medicine.  Please everyone get out and VOTE it is very important.

[debfau]

I worked as a Poll worker in June for the first time (county my parent's live in was short of workers; my Dad has worked probably for close to 10 years so I told him if I could be assigned to the same polling precint I would do it.  

Turns out my Dad was the Chief for the precint - he had to go the day before to get binders and paper work, what they call the cage (has the ballots, computers, cables, etc) was delivered the day before to the school we were assigned to; we had to be at the precint (school) at 5 am to set up; in VA polls open at 6 am and close at 7 pm.  Because quite a few people were still working from home we didnt' really have a rush of peope until about 3:30 to about 6:15ish.

The precent we worked had approx 4,400 people registered, 200 voted early and since we only had a Republican ballot (Dems are in office for the House & Senate) we had 234 people vote (3 decided after getting ballots to not mark anything so the Chief had to Void those out); we did have approx. 85 Dems show up be decided not to vote.

We did have a 5 poll workers and 1 chief - two of us worked the computers, and two people took turns wiping off the ballot areas between voters (they did give us plexiglass to put on the table where we checked people in but it wasn't tall enough.

Masks were encoureged but we were told we couldn't turn people away if they didn't have a mask. The county did supply mask for all poll workers (believe they gave us 10 in total), each poll worker had their own spray bottle of sanitizer and we had 4 big bottles to put out for the public to use (had two before they got to sign-in table and two as they were leaving).

This was a different school then where my Dad had worked before, one of the poll workers had worked their previously and she said that in Nov 2016 they had 84% turnout at that precint.

I am planning to work in Nov if not busy at work and can take off. The county has already asked my dad if he wants to come in and work in the Election office to do early Voting so I think he might do that this year.

[KaySD]

Yes, I have, and good for you! Your're doing a wonderful service. It's very rewarding, and I feel like I learned a ton. It also gave me great confidence in our election system. I feel like this year, it's especially important that everyone be able to vote. Thank you for helping.

[Puppy Lips]

@KaySD thanks for your comments. I have wanted to do this for a few years now because I thought it would be interesting. But don’t give me too much credit as I would not do it for free, lol. I know that I will be checking people in, so I will get to sit. I think I would have a hard time standing all day, so I am glad I did not get one of those positions. If it is a good experience, I will definitely do it again.

[KaySD]

---

@Puppy Lips wrote:
@KaySDthanks for your comments. I have wanted to do this for a few years now because I thought it would be interesting. But don’t give me too much credit as I would not do it for free, lol. I know that I will be checking people in, so I will get to sit. I think I would have a hard time standing all day, so I am glad I did not get one of those positions. If it is a good experience, I will definitely do it again.

---

@Puppy Lips  Whether you volunteer or get paid, this work is a great service to our country, so you get to keep the thanks!  

For me, there was a full day of training each time, and then on voting day, I started with setup about 5am, and ended when we turned the ballots in to the collection point, usually about 10 or 11 pm. So it made a very long day, even sitting.

A lot of what takes so much time is the security. Nobody handles anything alone, there are always two or more people watching every task, and the procedures for counting, sealing and signing everything are extensive and precise, right down to holding the sealed pouches of ballots, with their signatures, on my lap in the passenger seat of my co-worker's car. Not on the seat, not on the floor, but on my lap, with my hands on the pouch where my co-worker could see them! Throughout the day, we also had poll watchers observing everything we did. To cheat, you'd have to have 2 or more prople involved, and even then you wouldn't get away with more than a single ballot. Cheating on the mail ballots would be even harder.

Everyone has a preference. About half the people coming in to the polling place are dropping off mail ballots. Some don't get around to mailing them. Many more just like to come in to get the sticker! Others trade their mail ballots for in-person ballots. Which we gladly do, but they don't get to vote in person until their mail ballot has been marked up AND torn up by one person, then handed to another to put in a special sealed bag. The level of carefulness always impressed me.

I loved the people who brought their kids to see democracy at work. The kids were bored, sometimes, but they were learning in spite of that. Many polling places also had a high-school age person as part of the team. Great experience for them, and we were all proud to see their seriousness and commitment. Last time I worked, in 2018, the team had one high school senior, one retired police officer, one freelance IT person, a full-time mom of 4, and me. 

It is definitely interesting! Hope you enjoy the experience.

[Isobel Archer]

I did it for a couple of years.  Once we were having a school board election which was very controversial since it would eventually involve redistricting and those elected would be making the decisions.

The voting place was a school which would potentially be effected.  Interestingly, while school was out that day, the teachers were there - and they would not stop confronting voters - inside the restricted area - about who to vote for.  At one point they even tried to engage those of us at the desk - asking us to tell people who they must vote for.

Our supervisor repeatedly told them to stop, but they wouldn't.  Voters began complaining.  Finally, after this had gone on way too long in my view, our supervisor told them if they didn't stop, he'd call the police.  They didn't and he didn't.

Another time - in this same place - people without ID's - which were required - were allowed to vote anyway.  I protested to no avail.  And I'm not talking about provisional ballots - they got to vote using the machine - so it definitely counted.

This is why I worry about voter fraud.  It's much easier than you might think.