If you’ve ever wanted to get involved in politics, but the idea of running for elected office doesn’t appeal to you, Jefferson County Clerk Randy Holman has just the job for you.
Holman, the county’s election authority, is looking to recruit more election judges.
Election judges are the workers at each of the county’s 53 polling places who check in voters, set up and tear down the equipment, answer questions and make sure voters are inserting ballots into machines that count them correctly.
“We need eight to 12 people per polling place, so that means we need close to 500 people for the November election, which we expect will be busy,” Holman said.
“Right now, we have 350 or so who
have committed, so we have a need for more,” he said.
Election judges, he said, are motivated by two factors.
“One, they want to serve the public, and this is a great public-service opportunity,” Holman said. “Two, they’re looking to pick up a little extra money, and with the holidays coming right after the November election, who couldn’t use a little more of that?”
Election judges, he said, are paid $150 for working the day of the election, plus $25 for attending a training session, which usually lasts about two hours, before Election Day.
“We schedule about 15 training sessions, in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening and on weekends, so everybody has a chance to attend one,” Holman said. “This election, we’re also going to hold training sessions especially for new judges, so we can go over the basics a little more than we would for judges who have already worked for us.”
Holman said he has a loyal group of judges but can always use more.
“It’s a long day, but we try to make it as fun as we can,” he said. “We have a pretty high retention rate.”
Judges must show up at their assigned polling place at 5 a.m. on Election Day – an hour before the first vote can be cast – to help set up. The day typically ends 20 to 40 minutes after the polls close at 7 p.m., Holman said.
“The biggest thing you have to have to be an election judge is to want to work with people,” he said. “You meet a lot of people over the day, so you have to want to interact with the public. The other thing you need to be able to do is to sit for long hours. We try to encourage people to get up and move when they can, but sometimes things get busy and it’s not always possible.”
With the move to electronic polling pads and new voting machines, Holman said familiarity with technology can help but is not a prerequisite.
“We use iPads for the polling pads, and if they have any experience with one, that’s a plus, but the software is pretty user-friendly. Some of our judges who don’t have much exposure to electronics have gotten used to them and really like using them,” he said.
The typical election judge, Homan said, traditionally has been a retired person and that’s no different today.
“We do have a lot of retirees, and that won’t change, but we’re starting to see people who want to get involved with the election process who might take a day off from their job to serve,” he said.
“We have a lot of married couples who serve as election judges, although curiously, most of them don’t work at the same poll together.
“We’re also pushing to get more college students involved. It’s a good opportunity for students to get experience and make a little extra money, which college students tend to need.”
Because state law requires an equal number of election judges from both major political parties to staff a polling place, Holman said judges must declare a political preference.
“Some people say that it doesn’t really matter to them, that they would declare for whatever party we would happen to need at the time. It doesn’t matter to us as long as we know where you’re coming from,” he said.
Holman said every effort is made to assign election judges to polling places close to their homes, but a judge can accept or reject any assignment.
“But most of them tend to want to work every election,” he said.
For more information or to apply, call the County Clerk’s Office at 636-797-5486.