Wake County Board of Elections needs poll workers for the upcoming general election in November

Many positions are available. What it comes down to is that you will be asked to come for a few hours of training, set-up the polling place the Monday before the election, and work your area during election day. This could include working the registration table, the ballot table, the help table (where we send voters with problems- normally the most challenging position), curbside voting, etc... Basically everything you see being done on election day. The positions are PAID. You will not, however, get rich off these jobs. You can expect to get a check in the order of about $155 for your services for each election. It isnt much, but this is volunteer work that helps your community, looks good on resumes and in interviews, and is actually a lot of fun.

They also really need some computer savy individuals. This year the WCBoE has switched to a computer assisted help table. For the most part, it works, but having some people that are fast typers and know how to do proper searches would really help

I started working as a volunteer near the end of 2007. I have already worked in 4 elections and now work as a Chief Judge for my precinct (you actually manage the precinct and the workers).

If you work for the state, you actually get 24 hours a year that is PAID time off in addition to your normal vacation to do this type of volunteer work. If you work for just about any large corporation, they also are generous in giving you more time off to work with volunteer organizations.

What is required:
* Must be a registered voter and resident of Wake County
* Must not be an elected official, hold office with a political party or be a manager/treasurer of a party
* Must not be a candidate or relative of a candidate
* Must not serve in the same precinct as a spouse/child/spouse of a child/sister or brother

A link to the application:
http://www.wakegov.com/NR/rdonlyres/8E604D5E-E63D-4E75-A858-4926B9B6CBE8/0/wakeelectionworkerapplication.pdf

If you want to work, please let me know. I'll get you in touch with the right people. Ask any questions you want, as well. I will be bttt this thread for the next few weeks.

7/15/2008 2:02:53 PM

It's not volunteering if it's paid

I'm gonna go ahead and commit to this, seeing as how I have nothing else on my plate right now.

Can you provide a link that includes dates and times for the various positions?

[Edited on July 15, 2008 at 2:13 PM. Reason : ljkd]

7/15/2008 2:11:55 PM

Are you saying that this is an approved community service leave for state employees?

Even though the volunteers are paid?

7/15/2008 2:25:22 PM

Working the precincts is considered to be qualified community service to which you get additional time off. I think its also like jury duty, where you are also paid, but most state and federal institutions do not make you take your vacation time to serve.

it was cleared through my human resources office, and I work for the state.

Ambrosia, it doesnt quite work that way. What you will do is fill out that form and fax it in. They will assign you to a precinct that isnt far away from where you live when it gets closer to the election. They will also send you an email when training classes are available. For first timers, you will need to go to an introductory class, and a statutory class. If you want to work the help table, you'll also need to attend a PTO class. They arent too long, and unless you are going to be a Chief Judge, you often can get them done in the same day (they have day/evening/weekend schedules). This is quite a machine. Once you are assigned a precinct, the chief judge will call you and make sure you are working. He or She will assign you election day duties. So if you feel strongly about wanting to do a particular role, this is the time.

But I dont think there is a way around faxing that form. if you want me to verify they have received it, I will be happy to do that, as well as provide you direct phone numbers for the people responsible if you have more questions.

Anyone lurking and not posting, I would appreciate an IM if you are persuaded to serve based on this thread. They are interested in seeing how many people they can pick up through this medium. Recruitment is often done through local political parties.

[Edited on July 15, 2008 at 2:57 PM. Reason : .]

7/15/2008 2:52:44 PM

Quote :

"* Must not be an elected official, hold office with a political party or be a manager/treasurer of a party"

can you work for a candidate running for public office?

7/15/2008 2:56:15 PM

I do not think that is a restriction. If you can PM me your circumstance and are interested, I'll pass it on and get you an official reply.

7/15/2008 2:59:29 PM

I have other legal restrictions that prevent me from working at an election poll site.

the ladies in there love me though, since I show up for every damn election and they all know my name.

7/15/2008 3:11:35 PM

Definitely interested. This is the sort of thing I need on some applications I'd like to have taken seriously.

7/15/2008 4:15:31 PM

Do you remember how you got this approved as comm. service leave?

No one in my office has even used comm. service leave before.

I'm definetly interested if I get that used.

7/15/2008 4:21:41 PM

this sounds awesome.

*add to my topics*

7/15/2008 4:24:30 PM

I believe for state workers it is considered Class B community service leave. I simply sent an email to human resources verifying that serving as an election official was considered valid community service. Their reply was that as long as I was not serving a political party, is was considered community service. I simply indicate it on my electronic time sheet that gets approved by my manager. I am already out of it for this year, however. Will be taking a day off for November. Doesnt really matter to me either way. I'd do it even if it didnt pay (in fact, I didnt think we were paid until I got into training). Nice to do some community service. I actually got involved so I could attempt to do overseas elections monitoring with PAE-REACT (need experience).

Grumpy: I think PoliSci's get special allowances from the dean to work election day... Might want to check into that with your advisor.

[Edited on July 15, 2008 at 4:39 PM. Reason : .]

7/15/2008 4:35:04 PM

Quote :

"Ambrosia, it doesnt quite work that way. What you will do is fill out that form and fax it in."

I was just wanting a site that would give a little more information about the particular positions, since they're asking you on the form what you'd like to do, or if there are any in particular you want.

7/15/2008 5:41:11 PM

CarZin: The "Must not be a candidate or relative of a candidate" requirement only applies to candidates running for office in Wake County, correct? My brother is very interested in this but we have an uncle running for re-election in three counties neighboring Wake. Will this prohibit him from volunteering?

Regarding PAE-REACT, this fall is shaping up to be a fairly busy election season in the OSCE area. Elections that the US is likely to send observers to include: Belarus, Bosnia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. Belarus may not allow US observers if they invite any since we have been going back and forth dismissing diplomats lately.

7/15/2008 5:53:56 PM

Ski, I dont think so. Will find out tomorrow.

Ambrosia: http://www.wakegov.com/elections/default.htm
http://www.wakegov.com/elections/precinct_officials.htm

[Edited on July 15, 2008 at 6:21 PM. Reason : ,]

7/15/2008 6:18:15 PM

^^Doug Berger?

7/15/2008 7:09:00 PM

^George Murphy

7/15/2008 7:13:52 PM

I never know who any of the judges are.

7/15/2008 7:15:22 PM

haha yeah but thats not necessarily a bad thing.

7/15/2008 7:37:33 PM

Ski, the response:
He is still able to serve as a precinct official in Wake County. Only if
you uncle lived in Wake County and was running for office here this would prohibit you and your brother from serving during that particular election.

7/16/2008 12:30:10 PM

I'm interested--I have the day off from work that day anyway. It'd be cool to make some extra cash. PM sent.

7/16/2008 12:42:48 PM

bttt

7/20/2008 4:47:36 PM

woot

i did this in hs

fun stuff

7/20/2008 5:52:44 PM

bttt...

Sorry to keep doing this. Just want to make sure everyone has seen this.

7/25/2008 10:12:31 PM

someone sent me this question, and I will put the answer here. If you want to fax the form in, please do so at 919-856-5864

8/4/2008 9:07:53 AM

Now that students are back, this is my LAST bttt of this thread.

8/18/2008 10:01:48 AM

can we ask questions here or would you rather us pm? i could print it off and fax in the thing today, was just wondering how many hours it takes to get the 155

8/18/2008 10:11:20 AM

I'd assume questions to be asked here. I can answer for everyone.

The per hour pay isnt great. I would not do this striclty for the pay. For a first timer, you will have to attend a 2 hour (I think) intro class, and a 2-3 hour statutory class. Lots of them held during all hours. You should help setup the Monday before election (1 hour). You must be at the polling place at 6AM on election day, and given that this election will be huge, I would not expect to get out of the polling place any sooner than 9:30. Could easily go longer if there are a ton of people in line at poll closing time (7:30). So, expect minimum wage

Again, theres more to this than just some walking around money. Good for resumes. Good to do civic service. Maybe it would help on grad school applications??? (I dont know on that one). And if you work for any corp, most companies give you paid time off for civic work.

[Edited on August 18, 2008 at 11:17 AM. Reason : .]

8/18/2008 11:17:17 AM

honestly the only thing thats making me want to do it, is the $155(i'm pretty broke), and the resume thing(i'm all for civic shit, but at this point in my life i could care less, i'm all about me)...part of me wonders how great this really would look on a resume...

as for myself, i will fax said document to you after lunch

8/18/2008 11:26:31 AM

You'll be faxing it to Tiffany Holden with the BoE. I think a lot of employers like to see some volunteer work. Your mileage will vary based on the type of job you are applying for. Its hard work for the money you end up getting.

8/18/2008 11:38:16 AM

I did this last presidential election and overall I'd say it was worth it. I was 4 months shy of 18 last election, so I wasn't actually registered to vote. They had recently changed the laws to allow 17 year olds to work the polls. I had to have civic service or court observation hours for AP gov, so I just did this to get all of the hours, AND I got paid, AND I got to miss school.
If you have the time, do it, or make a younger sibling.
Most important- It was easy! It was dead for hours at a time and we just sat around.

8/18/2008 9:06:33 PM

i did this in high school for local elections once

easy work, but a really long day. i knocked out a couple of books because it was so slow.

and training wasn't bad either, they had free food.

8/18/2008 9:26:39 PM

absolute last bttt. They are still begging for more volunteers...

9/17/2008 9:33:57 AM

So, those that worked. What did you think?

I ran precinct 17-10. Its a smaller precinct with about 1500 registered voters. 600 voters had voted early, and we had about 500 vote on election day. Anyone work in a larger precinct?

11/10/2008 1:31:36 PM

I did it. We had about 1500 registered voters too. We did the math and there was roughly a 70% registered voter turnout, but we only had 450 or so come in Tuesday because of early voting. We didn't have really any problems except for one woman that put her ballot in the scanner before she actually voted and freaked out asking why she couldn't vote. We unlocked the scanner, let her vote, and kept track of the one vote difference between the scanner and the ATVs. The Democratic legal observer was on the phone the second all that stuff happened, but it got settled.

I was in precinct 01-27 at Project Enlightenment on Boylan. It was great; not stressful and we all ended up more or less potlucking. I lucked into a precinct where one guy traditionally supplies Moonlight Pizza for lunch to all observers. Three or four Obama campaigners outside with signs or whatever for the day came in having heard about our "refreshments" and bummed loaded platefuls. Still, great time.

11/10/2008 11:10:41 PM

they wanted to "share the wealth"

11/10/2008 11:53:19 PM