Official Proposes ‘Drafting’ Poll Workers to Ease Problems (Ohio)

[brooklynite]

CINCINNATI, Jan. 26 — The chronic shortage of election workers in Ohio could be solved by requiring residents to work at the polls the way they fulfill jury duty, the newly elected secretary of state says.

The official, Jennifer L. Brunner, a Democrat who won the office vacated by J. Kenneth Blackwell, a Republican, is asking lawmakers to require conscripted workers to have two days of training and then work eight-hours on Election Day.

If the Legislature approves the plan, Ohio would be the first state to force people to be election workers.

...snip...

“Under Ohio law, we’re supposed to have equal numbers of poll workers from both parties at each polling place, but we don’t always,” Ms. Brunner said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/27/us/27voting.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

I find this an intriguing notion, but my concern is that, unlike Jury Duty, election day at the polling place doesn't come with an infrastructure of clerks, baliffs, guards and lawyers to make sure everyone acts in an ethical manner and works together as a team.

[alfredo]

1. I get paid $115 for my work as a precinct judge.

We have little problem finding workers.

[onehandle]

2. Blackwell. I wonder how he's being paid off in his post-crime career?

The sack of shit.

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. So indentured servitude is the answer?

Why not pay poll workers a fair market wage for the 14 hours of non-stop work that is involved? If elections were held on the weekend, or if elections days were state holidays, more people would be free to take a double shift away from their family and employment.

"Drafting" poll workers -- ie making sure the people responsible for overseeing elections are unwilling and resentful -- is a really, REALLY stupid idea.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. making election day a holiday would solve most of the problem

I've never been able to volunteer because I had to work.

[Toucano]

10. Or at least move it to a Saturday or Sunday. n/t

[LiberalFighter]

5. Not likely to have workers any better than volunteers

Better to have election held on Saturdays or require employers to pay the difference in regular pay if employee volunteers as an election worker.

[theHandpuppet]

6. Agreed -- SOMETHING has to be done!

My partner actually takes a day off from work when we volunteer as poll workers. This means she takes a cut in pay which in not recompensed by her employer. We see this as a civic duty. If we had children I don't know how we'd manage, because being a poll worker involves a 16-17 hour day for us. Thankfully our neighbor takes care of our dogs while we're away. There's such a shortage here we've had to work a precinct miles away from our home and actually had to get a map to find it!

SOMETHING HAS TO BE DONE. The current system is horrible and it's no wonder there's a shortage of poll workers. Where we live there's always a shortage -- and no wonder. We get no breaks, NONE, even to go to the bathroom. If one of us goes to the john then voting stops until we get back. There is no break for lunch, no food provided, not even water or coffee. So you bring stuff to snack on and try grabbing bites when there's no line waiting to vote.

We get up at four a.m., review our instructions, then leave the house by 5. At 5:30 we must be at the polling place to prepare everything for voting, because the polls open at 6 and don't close until 7. Then at 7pm we have to prepare all the paperwork, machines and ballots to go to the courthouse. Those must be hand delivered to the courthouse and checked in. (Of course by 7pm you've already been at the polling place for almost 14 hours so your brain is fried.) Then it's 9pm by the time you actually get home.

For this we are paid $150, or about $10 and hour, and of course out of this comes the food and gas. Luckily we don't have to pay a babysitter and the neighbor watches are dogs for free.

People bitch all the time about the polling places but how many folks have actually volunteered to WORK the polls? How many have offered to babysit for someone who is a poll volunteer? How many have voluteered to deliver hot food or coffee to poll workers? How many are like my partner, who sacrifices a day's pay to be a poll worker?

There should ALWAYS be enough poll workers to provide for two shifts every election day. The first shift to be there by 5:30, set up the polls and work until 12:30; the second shit to begin at 12;30 and work until the polls close, then deliver the ballots to the courthouse. Anything else is ridiculous and not only inviting mistakes, but fraud. The way the system is set up now it's little wonder there simply aren't enough poll workers! I don't know what the best solution might be but SOMETHING has to be done!

[LiberalFighter]

7. Contact your local party chair and/or precinct committeeperson

on what they could do about providing food and drink. Either they could provide it for free or at least transport it.

On the shift idea... I wish that was possible but I don't believe it would pass mustard. I believe they would require a chain of custody standard. A possibility might be to have a true Democratic and Republican representative that would be present during the whole election process while other poll workers could handle other aspects of the polling duties.

If shift poll worker were assigned to determining voter eligibility in the books then both sides should initial in the book for each voter. That way an audit would show who was responsible.

There may be other reasons that a split shift will never happen or there may be ways to utilize a split shift that is acceptable and does not cast doubt in the election result.

[SharonAnn]

11. The audit procedures can still exist with split shift. You just have to develop them.

It's "habit" and "how we've always done things".

The long days are very taxing for many people. As the Election Officer, I'm the first to arrive and the last to leave and then I have to go to the Election Office with the "ballot boxes".

Typically a 16-17 hour day and very stressful, every minute of it. Sometimes no opportunity to sit down and/or eat.

Really, there are better ways to do this.

However, I'm not willing to quit and go back to having our precinct run by only retired Republicans and Republican lawyers.

[LiberalFighter]

8. One thing I think needs to be changed in each state is the time of elections

First, elections don't need to be more than 12 hours. 12 hours is bad enough and anything longer is severely pushing it.

Second, election hours need to be consistent and reasonable.


Personally, I don't think elections should start at 6 in the morning. A more reasonable starting time would be 8 am and ending at 8 pm. Maybe 7-7.

An idea to consider is every state in a time zone have the same start and end time. Their legislature would vote on whether to have election 8-8 or 7-7. The majority of legislatures in the states in the same time zone would determine the election times for that time zone.

[Tippy]

9. In our county the hours were from 9 AM to 7 PM

Every other county in our state opened at 7 AM to 7 PM....Here it is up to the county Elections Commission to fix the time...a lot of voters were unable to cast their ballots...We do have early voting 6 days a week from 8 AM to 5 PM....

[SharonAnn]

12. Some people have to vote before or after work, not during work hours.

8-8 or 7-7 wouldn't cut it. I know lots of people who work during those hours.

I do like the Early Voting we have here in Tennessee where people can vote during the weeks before Election Day. We have more than 70% of the people in my precinct vote early to avoid lines and waiting.

And, by using Early Voting, you can consolidate into fewer voting centers during that time and have more people available to help. It makes the Election Day volume much more manageable.

[SharonAnn]

13. Keep in mind, you want to accommodate the voters first! What do they need?