{child_flags:featured}{child_flags:breaking}Poll, pool workers needed for election
{child_byline}MICHELLE BRUNETTI POST
Staff Writer
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{child_flags:featured}{child_flags:breaking}Poll, pool workers needed for election
{child_byline}MICHELLE BRUNETTI POST
Staff Writer
{/child_byline}
To have a chance at getting results for November’s mostly vote-by-mail general election to the public in a timely manner, counties will need to quickly hire large numbers of temporary workers, election officials say.
County boards of election don’t just need hundreds of poll workers for Election Day anymore. They also need pool workers for processing and counting hundreds of thousands of paper ballots.
The two jobs sound the same but are very different, Atlantic County Board of Elections Chair Lynn Caterson said.
Poll workers are needed for one day, and their compensation of $200 is for one long day of work, Caterson said.
Pool workers, on the other hand, are needed daily from about Oct. 1 through Thanksgiving, and the board plans to increase their compensation from $14 per hour to $16 per hour for workers and $20 per hour for supervisors.
That’s likely to cost $640 per week for each full-time worker, or about $25,000 a week for the 40 full-time workers Atlantic County has estimated it will need — or $205,000 for eight weeks from Oct. 1 through Thanksgiving.
Every county will be dealing with the same need for more workers, Caterson said, and will be competing against the U.S. Census, which is also hiring.
“We believe that is an appropriate salary given that Census workers are making $20 an hour,” Caterson said.
“The administration has to ensure they have enough staff ... so we don’t have big hiccups,” Democratic Atlantic County Freeholder Caren Fitzpatrick said during a recent freeholders meeting. “(In the primary,) the calculations took so long. A lot of people were upset about that.”
The Atlantic County Board of Elections received about 48,000 ballots in the July 7 primary, and it took weeks to count them all. The board estimates it will receive up to 140,000 in the general election.
Caterson said the board is requesting the county pay for 50 to 60 pool workers, some part-time and some full-time. She hopes to have about 40 workers at all times during business hours.
That’s about three times what the board has required in the past.
Republican Clerk of the Board Sue Sandman said the board has 10 to 12 people from previous elections, and will have to hire and train the rest.
“They will be the ones that will be receiving ballots, stamping in ballots, recording the ballots in the SVRS (State Voter Registration System), and doing the initial comparison of signatures,” Caterson said.
At the end, pool workers do all the final tabulations and storing of ballots, she said.
Applications to become a pool worker are available by calling the Atlantic County Board of Elections at 609-645-5867. Residents of other counties should call their own board of elections.
Poll workers, on the other hand, will be hired for one long day Nov. 3, to staff the polling locations that will be open for those who want to vote in person.
Their compensation is set by the state Legislature at $200 per day, Caterson said.
The poll worker application is available on the Atlantic County website, and most counties have applications for poll workers on their own sites.
This year, at least half of each county’s polling places must be open for those who want to vote in person, using a paper provisional ballot. Only those who fill out an affidavit swearing they have a handicap that prevents them from filling out a paper ballot will be allowed to vote by machine, under Gov. Phil Murphy’s executive order.
That’s because vote-by-mail ballots are being sent to every registered voter in the state, and provisional ballots are only counted once it is proven the voter did not already send in a vote-by-mail ballot.
Murphy changed some of the rules from the primary to the general election. In the primary, voters could not drop off their filled out vote-by-mail ballots at the polls. In the general, they will be allowed to do so.
“I think there will be quite a few people who take their ballots there,” said Commissioner John Mooney at a recent elections board meeting. “We have to make sure the chain of custody is being handled properly.”
The dropped off ballots must be secured by a poll worker from each party, he said. That means there will be a need for additional poll workers assigned to oversee dropped off ballots.
“A lot of new stuff is being put on poll workers,” Mooney said.
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{child_related_content}{child_related_content_item}{child_related_content_style}More Information{/child_related_content_style}{child_related_content_title}Boards of Election{/child_related_content_title}{child_related_content_content}
Atlantic County: Historic Court House Complex, 5903 Main St., Mays Landing, 609-645-5867
Cape May County: 10 W. Mechanic St., Cape May Court House, 609-465-1050
Cumberland County: 555 Shiloh Pike, Route 49, Bridgeton, 856-453-5801
Ocean County: 101 Hooper Ave., Toms River, 732-929-2167
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{child_related_content}{child_related_content_item}{child_related_content_style}More Information{/child_related_content_style}{child_related_content_title}Boards of Election{/child_related_content_title}{child_related_content_content}
Atlantic County: Historic Court House Complex, 5903 Main St., Mays Landing, 609-645-5867
Cape May County: 10 W. Mechanic St., Cape May Court House, 609-465-1050
Cumberland County: 555 Shiloh Pike, Route 49, Bridgeton, 856-453-5801
Ocean County: 101 Hooper Ave., Toms River, 732-929-2167
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