I have been working as a poll worker in a small Northern California county since retiring in 2011 after 33 years of service in a utility business. This means working every 2 years, 2 times a year for the primary and then general election (there can be special elections but I was never involved in one). I first began “at the bottom” as a Clerk for 2 cycles and then was bumped up to Inspector which is the lead/head person for a precinct.
Every time voting takes place, Inspectors are required to attend about a half day of training and pick up their precinct’s ballots and voting day equipment prior to election day. Everything is numbered, tagged and certified with labels and must be returned with the removed numbered, tagged and certified labels properly attached to paperwork. If something is misplaced, it must be accounted for on paperwork explaining why it is not returned. I was amazed at the checking and cross-checking involved in the election process but over time came to understand it was necessary to prove there was nothing illicit happening. There is a “tally sheet” for the ballots that is the panic for all Inspectors that must be tallied upside down, sideways and all ways to show all ballots are accounted. If the numbers don’t add up in all the directions, you must explain. So far, I have only had a problem one time which occurred during the clerical part of the process (clerk forgot to get a voter to sign the “book” that has voter names with addresses). Once we get the ballots counted so the numbers come out correct, all tags accounted for and unused ballots voided the poll workers can go home. However, the Inspector and one other person must then take all the precinct’s voting day equipment and ballots up to the County Registrar of Voters to have ballots counted and all the equipment and paperwork you checked out the day of training is returned.
My day of voting begins at the precinct location at 6 am and ends after travelling home from dropping off the ballots about 1 am. I am paid a flat amount, travel and mileage (no overtime for the long continuous hours). I don’t do this for the money; I do it because it is fun, feels good and is important. I do not know if all counties do the same pay; I do know that the checking, cross-checking, labels, tallies and certifications are done the same and required in California to be done and be correct. (I did not work the special election because I was on vacation on the East Coast but my “people” did work and told me things were actually slow, mostly dropping off “mail-in” ballots.)
Since I have been doing this job, voters have been kind, cooperative and well-mannered. However, voting in the 2020 election was another story. I have never been questioned so much about the voting process in a non-believing attitude as in 2020. Questions like: How are the ballots delivered to the County? Do the ballots get taken up tonight or tomorrow morning? Are the mail in ballots dropped off here taken to the Post Office for mailing? When I gave my answers to their questions, there was a sense that I was not telling the truth or a sense of disbelief.
Voting should have an atmosphere of comfort and not confrontational. There cannot be any political advertising of any kind. No t-shirts, no hats expressing a political position or person what-so-ever. I had someone come in with a t-shirt expressing voting for a specific presidential candidate which we all asked them to turn their shirt inside out while voting to avoid a confrontational voting area. They refused and stated if the name was the other candidate we would not be challenging the t-shirt. Once we got it through to them it would not matter whose name was on the shirt, they agreed to turn it inside out to vote. However, once done voting the shirt was turned right side out while walking out the door; I felt this was a “finger” in our face. The shirt should not have been turned right side out until they were 100’ from the voting location. This is one reason the new Texas voting law is dangerous. I understand they are allowing Poll Watchers to get too close to voters which could be intimidating. Normally Poll Watchers are only allowed to watch the voting process not the voters which usually means the Precinct workers.
Being a Precinct worker for voting has been an inspirational and a pleasant time. I plan to continue to work elections and only hope the current strife that is in our country will decrease and voters will not believe the conspiracy theories but investigate and realize elections are safe, secure and true. Perhaps work an election or two. Most businesses give time off to work elections. I used vacation to work my first election before retiring.
I hope my explanation of the process of electing our government officials in California is helpful and can mitigate the disbelief we currently are experiencing in America. Thanks for the opportunity.