States that appoint head election judges may compensate that position at a slightly higher rate. © 2020 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC Terms of Use/Privacy Policy. Will you be paid? Voters requesting translation assistance are connected to bilingual judges or a language assistance hotline. The Committee of Seventy and the Voter Project encourage interested individuals to sign up online to learn more about the work and receive additional training before being directed to county election offices for possible appointment. Basepay in Philly was recently increased for the general election to $200 with another $50 for training. Many election judges are retired members of the community or students who have flexible schedules and can commit to a very long day. Thousands of new poll workers will be needed in Philadelphia and across the region to serve as poll workers this fall. To be appointed to fill a vacancy by your county, you only have to be a registered voter within the county. Some election judges are paid a daily or hourly wage, while others choose to volunteer. The Assistant Clerk shall step in as the Clerk if the Clerk is unable to perform his or her duties. Yes, Poll Workers get paid for training and each day they work. The judge of elections and the inspectors are elected positions and can serve only within their own election precinct. Any worker who does not attend training class and pass the exam will not be assigned to work an Election Day. Election judges are frontline workers stationed at voting polls who assist Americans in exercising their cherished right to vote in a free election. An Inspector has a few different roles on Election Day. Typical duties on election day include opening and closing the polls, greeting voters, verifying voter identification and polling location, registering new voters, and handing out ballots or activation cards for touchscreen voting machines. Election judges must also be prepared to deal with any challenges to the process that might disrupt decorum at the polling site, such as a citizen attempting to vote twice. In addition to just making election days possible, poll workers are critically important to ensure that no registered voter slips through the cracks. Student election judges may train alongside other election judges and perform similar duties at the polls. Anyone interested in Southeastern Pennsylvania (and registered to vote) should sign up with the Committee of Seventy and the Voter Project. The 281-page Cook County election judge manual, for example, provides election judges in Chicago with detailed information on pre-election day preparation to election day setup and logistics. If you retired from an FRS employer less than one year ago, working as a poll worker may jeopardize your FRS pension. Philadelphia is planning to fully staff all 1,703 precincts grouped within more than 700 polling places for the general election, meaning upward of 8,500 people will be needed in neighborhoods across the city. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is expected to be available, but poll workers will have the added duty of ensuring that social distancing and other precautions are followed, and in accommodating hundreds of voters under what will assuredly be stressful conditions. Checks are mailed 4-6 weeks after election day. On average, PayScale reports that election judges across the country earn $13.10 per hour with reported compensation ranging from $10 to $18 hour, based on a limited sampling of 24 self-reports.
Poll workers are the front-line workers in our elections — the people you see at your local polling place who check in voters, operate the voting machines, and help address voters’ questions and concerns on Election Day. You can find election judge pay rates for your county at the nonpartisan Work Elections website. in writing. *Rate of pay is a flat rate that includes election day and training. Currently she is a dean of students at a large, public university.
A Deputy maintains peace and good order on the outside of the polling place, assists in marking the no solicitation zone, ensures compliance with the no solicitation zone, and ensures that the polling room is accessible to all voters.