‘Twas the Night Before the Election
I’m headed out to Virginia today to attend a training class for poll workers. Until I started working on this story about the logistics of polling places, I never realized just how much we rely on volunteers (read: senior citizens) to carry out elections. They really take care of everything, these guys.
On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of volunteers will appear at polling places at 5 a.m. (!) and manage what is expected to be a record turnout. They will look up your name, direct you to a voting booth, delicately explain that you can’t wear your Obama button or your McCain t-shirt in the polling place, resolve complex legal questions, puzzle over any technical meltdowns and try to keep the line moving.
For this, they get about $100. If all goes well (and in many places, it most certainly won’t), they go home around 9 pm.
Tony Toews said on October 31, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Same here in Canada. They have to bring their own lunches and are expected to sit in those chairs all day long except for washroom breaks. All too frequently those chairs are those ugly wooden stacking chairs.
john brook said on November 11, 2008 at 5:27 am
i think they do it for 100 dollars because its a great service to everyone i hope the outcome was well worth the hard work put in buy everybody on the day