Wayne BOE seeks volunteers for Nov. 5 election

The Wayne County Board of Elections is in need of volunteers for the upcoming election. Anyone interested in working on Election Day may call the board at 330-287-5480, sign up online at www.waynecountyoh.gov/ or stop by the office at 200 Vanover St., Ste. 1, in Wooster.

Meredith Holder, Wayne County election operations manager, said volunteering is a way to gain a deeper understanding of the voting and election process. It also allows someone to assist the community by helping facilitate an important part of the democratic process and is a community service experience for resumes.

Additionally, poll workers are paid for their time on Election Day and for training. Holder said some poll workers choose to donate the money they are paid through a program where earnings go to a civic club or charity. Payment is $123 for Election Day, plus $30 for required training.

New volunteers must take a three-hour class while returning workers attend a two-hour refresher. Election Day hours are from 5 a.m. to approximately 9 p.m., depending on how long teardown takes once polls close. Additionally, on the day prior to the election, workers spend about an hour setting up the layout of their polling place.

If someone is interested but can’t make the scheduled trainings, the board will add them to a list for future workers. An additional training may be scheduled for this election.

“We need a minimum of 268 workers on Election Day in Wayne County. However, with this being a presidential election, we would like to train and deploy extra personnel to polling locations,” elections operations manager Kim Wilson said.

Wilson said it is necessary to work all day on the day of the election. “We do not offer partial day shifts for poll workers because we must maintain a chain of custody for all election equipment and ballots,” Wilson said. “Switching personnel on a regular basis could jeopardize the security and integrity of the election.”

“Facilitating an election is very complex, and most duties must be performed by bipartisan teams, both in our office and at the polling locations on Election Day,” Holder said. “We are immensely blessed to have such a great team of temporary employees and poll workers who assist us in making sure that Wayne County voters experience fair, secure and accurate elections.”

Additionally, Holder shared gratitude for those who volunteer. “We sincerely appreciate our poll workers, as Election Day in Wayne County would not be possible without them,” she said.