Be a Poll-Watcher and help all of the candidates
Posted by RCPB on October 11, 2010 · Leave a Comment
Some definitions first – since campaigns throw out a lot of terms that may not be ‘technically’ accurate 😉
Poll Workers are the people who check you in at the polling place; they are paid by the Supervisor of Elections, trained and work the polls from before opening until after the polls close. It is a volunteer job with minimal pay for hours worked. It is also too late to apply for a position.
Poll Watchers are unpaid volunteers who are trained in how the poll operations work. They are observers who work part or all of election day inside the polling location – looking for anything that may be ‘fishy’. They work to ensure that all Florida Election Laws and Procedures are followied to ensure fair and unbiased election without the presence of fraud. A few examples could include – a non-zero vote count at the start of election day, failure to check ID when checking in voters, letting people with some kind of issue (eg wrong precinct, invalid id) vote instead of creating a provisional ballot, etc. While generally there may be a poll-watcher from each political party, technically, each candidate can have his/her own poll-watcher at each voting location. Poll Watchers fill out an application and must be approved as valid Palm Beach County voters/poll-watchers prior to Election Day.
Often candidates will use the term poll-watchers or poll-workers for volunteers who wave their candidates’ signs or hand out materials at the voting locations on Election Day. That is another way you can help a specific set of candidates – but it is neither poll-working or poll-watching.
The Republican Party of Palm Beach County and the Allen West Campaign are seeking Poll Watchers for Election Day. The deadline to submit your application is Monday, October 18th!!
To apply for the GOP poll-watching position – fill out the application: EDO commitment form and then fax it to the number at the bottom of the application. To apply for the Allen West Campaign poll-watching position – fill out the Allen West Poll-Watcher Application and then either email the information to Sue Snowden (email address on the application), call her with the information or fax it to the Allen West Campaign at 954-571-7833.
Note: While sometime you may work at your own voting location – many times you will be asked to poll-watch at a location where there have been difficulties in the past.