electionLine

April 17, 2014

Part-time poll workers: Problems solved or problems created
Would eliminating 12+ hour days solve some elections problems?

No one wants to be trapped indoors for 12-15 hours per day, especially in paradise and that’s part of the reason why Hawaii recently announced it will pilot a program allowing poll workers, on a very limited basis, to work part-time in the Aloha State.

Beginning this year, the state will allow one poll worker in 108 of Oahu’s largest polling places to split their shift — and the $85 per day stipend — with another poll worker. The pilot will not be available at any of the 90 polling sites on neighboring islands.

Hawaii is not the first state of course to allow part-time poll workers.

Less than a third of states allow poll workers — on some level — to work part-time. Some jurisdictions limit the practice to student poll workers, where others limit it to the type of election-day worker.

But with voting wait time one of the indices in Pew’s recent Election Performance Index, could part-time poll workers help some of those lower performing states improve their ranking by encouraging more people to “volunteer” to work the polls? Read More…