Ever since I was young I always went with my mom to vote. There was always so muchsexcitement about being able to go into the poll booth and select a candidate. Even though I didn’t actually follow the actual election, or even understand the whole election process it still was such an important event in my mind. As I grew older and my understanding of the process broadened, the idea of actually being a poll worker seemed exciting to me. I come from a small town. There is no ward, no precinct, just one gymnasium for the whole town. The idea of being able to check people in and hand them a ballot seemed so fun to me. So, this past summer I started to look into actually being a poll worker. I asked my small town in New Hampshire first about working this upcoming presidential election. I then learned that it apparently is a tight-knit group of older women who have already signed up. I tried the Boston area. I was offered the job, and they even wanted me to work the polls this past September for the primary, and I will be returning this presidential election. So here is a *brief* summary of my story being a poll inspection and why you should join too.
TrainingÂ
The first step before election day itself is going through a poll inspector training (yes, that’s the official job title). This was a couple weeks before the election itself and consisted of a online meeting going over the general stuff that you might see during the process. This includes the job positions:ward, clerk, poll inspector. It also includes working the machine that counts ballots, checking people in/out, and opening and closing procedures. It’s a lot of information to absorb within an hour, but a lot of the things you will learn the day of. While the training was fun I also learned that it was going to be a long day. I would be working from 6am to around 8:30 pm.Â
Setting up and the morning shiftÂ
It was an early morning for me. As I woke up, got dressed, and then made my way over to my assigned polling location. When I got there I knew I would be meeting my colleagues for the ward and precinct I was assigned to. This included the warden who was in charge, the clerk who was assistant to the warden, poll inspectors, and the police officer assigned to us as well. We set everything up which included putting up ballot instructions and sample ballots. And then at 7am sharp the polls opened. It was going to be a slow day as it wasn’t a major election. I was assigned to the check out table so a good amount of time was spent chatting with the police officer that was assigned to us. It was really interesting hearing about election experience and policing in the city of Boston in general. To be honest, the time passed rather quickly. We are allowed to have a book and complete some homework too, which can be a nice way to pass the time.Â
LunchÂ
A great aspect of the job is that you get an hour lunch break. I was assigned the first break which was around 11am. I was allowed to leave the polling location and grab lunch. It was such a nice day, and I was able to walk around quite a bit.Â
Afternoon and ClosingÂ
The afternoon went a lot like the rest of the day, people slowly trickled in and out and fellow poll workers took their lunch break. I was able to get to know my colleagues and talk to them for a while. It can be really nice bonding with people who have similar interests in civic duty. I was able to take another break and go and get some coffee. I was also signing people out after they voted and making sure that their ballot went properly into the machine and checking off their names. And of course, handing out the “I Voted” sticker.Â
At 8pm the polls closed and we posted the results and picked everything up. Then, we were out of there by around 8:30pm. I was able to go home, have some dinner and relax. An extremely rewarding day that went by fast.Â
Takeaways (and why you should do it too!)Â
While I was a little unsure about working the polls after hearing about what a long day it was going to be, honestly I am glad I did it. Not only is it a way to participate in the election but it allows you to perform an important civic duty. It was really fun getting to know other people and help out with something so important. Also, something really good to add onto a resume. And of course, the added bonus that you are getting paid for your work! While smaller towns may be already fully staffed, take a look into the nearest city. I know for a fact that Boston is still looking for poll workers. It’s not too late to sign up to work the presidential election and help make a difference.