Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder-Elections

September 30, 2008

Poll Worker Training Begins
County will field 2,240 Election Officers on Election Day

Redwood City, CA – The San Mateo County Elections Office will field 2,240 election officers for the November 4, 2008 Presidential General Election – and all of them – must be trained in advance of Election Day!

“To date, 2,065 election officers have signed up to work at the polls on Election Day. We are gearing up for the Presidential election. We are also proud to have a number of schools and students participating in the democracyLIVE! Student Poll Worker Program—we expect to have well staffed polling locations. This election promises to be one of the most exciting elections that we’ve had in years!” according to Warren Slocum, Chief Elections Officer for San Mateo County.

San Mateo County election officers are given a stipend of $125 ($100 for their service on Election Day and $25 for the time they spend in training). This training, which lasts from two-three hours, is mandatory and must be completed prior to Election Day. More than 65 classes are offered throughout the county at varying days of the week and times of day. A team of two professionals offer three different levels of “Procedures” classes – tailored to the experience levels of our election officer corps.

“Apprentice” classes are designed for Election Officers who have never worked an election in San Mateo County election, or have not worked an election in our County in the past year.  This is a“First Timers” class, and is a combination of lecture and hands-on training that will help develop experience assembling, connecting, and disassembling the eSlate voting machines. This class is three hours in length.

“Journeyman” classes are for those who have worked at least one San Mateo County election in the past year.  This class is primarily a lecture with hands-on exercises built into the curriculum, and is approximately two and a half hours in length.

“Masters” classes are ONLY for Election Officers that have worked five or more elections. The Masters Class, approximately two hours long, is “performance-based” training with voter and Election Officer scenarios and requires that the attendees have a strong foundation in polling place procedures.

For those who are curious about serving at the polls, “We encourage you to take a “sneak peek” and review the election officer materials online in the Poll Worker section,” said Slocum, “it will give you an idea about the day, how others feel about it and what the general responsibilities are. You can even sign up to be an election officer, poll worker opening & closing technician, field tech or ride-along-coordinator online, too.”

“Procedures” classes, the mandatory election officer classes, begin on Thursday,
October 2nd. To review the class schedules offered in October, go to the Elections website, www.shapethefuture.org.

In addition to the mandatory “Procedures” classes that all Election Officers must take, “We strongly encourage election officers to sign up and attend Lab classes as well,” said Slocum.

Lab classes are designed to help election officers “bone up” on the areas where they need more work,” said Slocum. “All labs are held at 40 Tower Road, San Mateo at the Election Office and are supervised by seasoned election officers or staff trainers so that more individualized attention is available.”


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