I have been an election judge (worker) in the past, but they didn't need me today. Our voting places have 4 judges (workers) and we are required to trade off jobs all day. My favorite job is to stand by the ballot box and make sure the voter feeds their ballot in properly, then hand out the "I Voted" sticker. An easy job. :)

Two judges are Republicans and two are Democrats. One Republican and one Democrat are Supervisory judges - they are both paid $100 for the day. The other two judges are paid $80 for the day.

I have worked in only one voting place (so far) with a very small population. The last election I worked (in August) I think we had a total of 144 voters.

I think there was about 6. Two greeters asked your address than directed you to one of two table. Each table had two workers manning the books.

first time for me. I did a half day. we recently moved to pennsy, and this paper ballot thing was so new to me. apparently though, they are saying that is going to be the future (for audit purposes etc). they do have electronic machines available but they are not the preferred method. For the 6 hours I was there, I did not see anyone request to use the electronic).

OH MY GOD! I just realized the spelling bo bo I made last night. I attribute it to being tired and worn out.

Moni

I live in a mail-in ballot state. So there are no polling places and no election workers......except for those hidden individuals that run the ballots through whatever computerized system that reads and tallies them.

Who even noticed? ;)

ETA: My mom did it too and for a few years so did I and my sister.

I had to go back to your post to see what was misspelled! I read it as you intended it to be.

I was quite involved in politics and elections for a number of years. Our garage was the polling place for our election precinct, as there were no public buildings in it, and I was the election judge. Several years ago the precinct lines were redrawn, and some suitable public buildings were included. I continued as election judge for a few years after that, but 'retired' about 10 or so years ago. I always found it very interesting. And oh, some of the stories I could tell!

Rusty

We had the same group of ladies from the neighborhood for 25 years. They made the decision to all "retire" at the same time, as they all became "workers" at the same time. I miss their familiar faces! I don't know anyone working there except the gal who makes sure the ballot scans properly - she's done that job for years and with various machines.

When we lived in St Louis, polling places were usually in church halls. When we moved to LA, I was VERY surprised that our polling place was in a neighbor's garage! In KY, there is no school on Election Day so they can use the schools as polling places.

I don't think I would like the idea of all ballots being "mail-in". Absentee, yes, but not all. I like the ritual of going to vote. And I like seeing all my neighbors doing the same thing. I think it adds to a community feeling - everyone doing the same thing at the same time. Of course, I don't live in a huge precinct where one waits in line for 3 hours to vote. I'd probably feel very differently then.

22 state have at least some form of mail-in balloting (other than absentee voting) and at least 3 are mail-in only. So I do believe it is the wave of the future, whether one likes it or not :-) And it is hugely convenient for those that have access, mobility or time issues that make physically trekking to a polling place problematic.

I have been an inspector at the polls in Palm Brach County, FL for many years. Remember the hanging chads? We now do paper ballots. The polls were very crowded yesterday.

I signed up to be an election worker a couple of years ago when I retired, but haven't been called. Will sign up again in the spring just in case they purge applications from time to time.

I've not but do consider it every election -- they always advertise for poll workers. Maybe next year.

We can both register and vote by mail as well as able to vote for 30 days prior to election day; but I am a traditionalist, I guess, in that I like to go on election day to the poll. On Tuesday our local precinct ran out of paper for the machines, then ran out of envelopes for the paper ballots! Finally got more paper at 6pm. That and a power outage at another precinct were the only glitches I have heard of so far. Oh, there was another precinct that typically has low turnout so there were only 2 machines initially, but they were so busy that they brought in 4 more machines.

Those of you, that think you want to work at a polling station, realize, you may have to go through training. I did, back in May. This was the first election I worked.

Moni

I think they pay about $150 here and you can’t leave. You have to be there from opening until the last vote of the day. I haven’t done it but will one day.