Volunteer work?

[MelissaG]

Ok, normally I don't bring this stuff up. I'm not one to volunteer for anything really but this one is different. My area is looking for poll workers for the midterms. I've always kept deep in touch with whats going on with politics and generally spend an hour a day catching on up on everything going on. At this point I'm very convinced that we must do so if we want to keep the country free.

Here's the thing, I'm not sure it's a good idea. With everything that's been going on, poll workers having their lives threatened and the like... is it a good idea? I'd love to help. But I don't want to get shot because of it. Honestly, my husband has been no help in this decision and says "I can see you doing exactly that but you have a good point so I don't know what to say". So I need other peoples feelings on this.

What do you think?

 

[Zany_in_CO]

I volunteered to do that once... when it was safe to do so. It was interesting and fun. This is not the time to "do so to keep the country free." My advice? Stay safe. Most of the registered voters probably won't even show up to vote.

 

[earlene]

My husband currently is a poll worker and my parents both did it for many years. I really encourage you to consider it and perhaps take the training. Here in Illinois, there is training for poll workers, and I recall there was for my parents in California as well, so assume that is true in all states. Once you take the training, you get paired with experienced poll workers, so should not end up with a bunch of newbies.

Louisiana does compensate its poll workers, so it is not really a volunteer position, but of course the amount paid varies with each type of position and the hours can be quite long at times. At least it is not rigorously physical work and is usually indoors, hopefully in a temperature controlled building, but not always, if memory serves when my parents were poll workers. In some states, election workers also get paid for attending the required training session(s).

Since you are worried about safety, I suggest you talk to the Elections Board official (Registrar of Voters or similar title ) in your area to determine what safety measures are in place, and go from there.

I'd do the same if I felt that my hearing difficulties would not interfere with my efficacy in the environment of our local polling places.

My husband tells me I would have a hard time as a poll worker because of my hearing. I don't know if he is correct in that assessment, particularly since I just had my hearing aids checked & cleaned and have had some really comfortable improvement. But it is true that I do have consistent difficulty hearing some things that hearing aids cannot really fix. For me and the other party in the conversation it is very frustrating when I cannot understand what the other person is saying. It is worse in noisy & crowded environmets, on the telephone, as well with some strong accents. And then some folks just tend to be rather inarticulate in their speech, including slurring words, speaking too fast, not directing their voice toward the hearer, all of which makes understanding the spoken words difficult for me.

 

[MelissaG]

My husband currently is a poll worker and my parents both did it for many years. I really encourage you to consider it and perhaps take the training. Here in Illinois, there is training for poll workers, and I recall there was for my parents in California as well, so assume that is true in all states. Once you take the training, you get paired with experienced poll workers, so should not end up with a bunch of newbies.

Louisiana does compensate its poll workers , so it is not really a volunteer position, but of course the amount paid varies with each type of position and the hours can be quite long at times. At least it is not rigorously physical work and is usually indoors, hopefully in a temperature controlled building, but not always, if memory serves when my parents were poll workers. In some states, election workers also get paid for attending the required training session(s).

Since you are worried about safety, I suggest you talk to the Elections Board official (Registrar of Voters or similar title ) in your area to determine what safety measures are in place, and go from there.

I'd do the same if I felt that my hearing difficulties would not interfere with my efficacy in the environment of our local polling places.

My husband tells me I would have a hard time as a poll worker because of my hearing. I don't know if he is correct in that assessment, particularly since I just had my hearing aids checked & cleaned and have had some really comfortable improvement. But it is true that I do have consistent difficulty hearing some things that hearing aids cannot really fix. For me and the other party in the conversation it is very frustrating when I cannot understand what the other person is saying. It is worse in noisy & crowded environmets, on the telephone, as well with some strong accents. And then some folks just tend to be rather inarticulate in their speech, including slurring words, speaking too fast, not directing their voice toward the hearer, all of which makes understanding the spoken words difficult for me.

Thank you for that information. Every time I've gone to the polls it's been very quiet and they are inside temperature controlled buildings that I've seen.