By Ron Marx
SAN DIEGO — “Hear-ye, hear-ye, the polls are now open.” These seven words are one of the foundations of our democracy.
In October 2016 I heard a public service announcement on KPBS Midday Edition asking for volunteers to become a poll worker for the 2016 Presidential Election. Little did I know that it would be the start of an incredibly important, interesting, and fulfilling journey.
Each polling place has four “board members.” my role was to set up and monitor the touch screen voting device, receive the completed ballots, hand-delivered mail-in ballots, make certain that they were inserted correctly into the secure ballot box, and pass out the all-important “I Voted” stickers.
The four of us met at our poll on Monday night, got to know one another, and set up the furniture and non-proprietary Election Day items. 6 am on Election Day came pretty early, and we were back to set up the final items and open the poll by 7 am; at which time the Precinct Inspector (PI) opened the doors and announced: “Hear-ye, hear-ye, the polls are now open.”
In California, each poll remains open long enough so that anyone that is already in line at 8 pm can vote. By the end of the day, the words announced by the PI after the last voter left: “Hear-ye, hear-ye, the polls are now closed” was a welcome pronouncement.
The post-election tasks took about 45 minutes, and we were finished by about 9 pm.
For the 2018 Gubernatorial Primary I was chosen as the Precinct Inspector in charge of the Board for a poll in Pacific Beach. For the 2018 Gubernatorial Election I became a poll worker trainer. There were approximately 1,200 precincts throughout San Diego County, 7,000 poll workers, and a training team of about 70 people. We spent 3 weeks in training, followed by 1-1/2 months training poll workers across all of San Diego County.
Our mission statement was on the back cover of our training manual:
- “Take care of every voter correctly at the polls.
- Make sure all voters and visitors have a positive voting experience.
- Safely secure every ballot until it can be counted at the Registrar of Voters.”
On Election Day we served at the call center for the Poll Worker Hotline at the Registrar of Voters (ROV) building answering questions, addressing issues, and directing replenishment of supplies.
The implementation of “Register and vote the same day” solely at the ROV offices resulted in lines around the block. From what I understand, the last votes cast at the ROV occurred at about 2 am.
One of the most interesting phases was working at the ROV for 30 days after the election to certify our results to the Secretary of State. It was an amazing process to watch the behind-the-scenes processes such as validating signatures, processing mail-in ballots, hand-counting ballots to match the computer tally, and to pack up and store all of the materials and supplies to be reused at the next election cycle.
There is still time for you to join me as a poll worker for the 2020 Mayoral and Presidential Primary on Tuesday, March 3rd.
- There is a small stipend ($75-$174) to cover transportation and meal expenses on Election Day
- An additional $15 if bilingual in Arabic, Chinese, Filipino, Korean, Spanish, or Vietnamese
- High School students receive 21 hours of Certified Community Credit, and a day off from school
Your time commitment:
- Complete the volunteer application on-line
- Complete about 1.5 hours of on-line training
- Attend a 2 hour classroom session in your neighborhood
- Meet your Board members on Monday evening March 2nd to set up the poll
- Be at the poll by 6 am on March 3rd, and remain until about 45 minutes after the last voter
SDVOTE.com is the go-to website for any, and all questions related to voting in San Diego County. Click on the “Volunteer to be a Poll Worker” button and join me on March 3rd.
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Marx addressed attendees following a mayoral forum on January 26th at Temple Emanu-El, where he is a congregant.