National Poll Worker Recruitment Day highlighted elections

National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, held on Jan. 25, allowed Tioga County’s Board of Elections Commissioners to encourage all residents who are registered voters to sign up to become poll workers / election inspectors for the 2022 primary and general election and beyond.

National Poll Worker Recruitment Day is a national day of action established by the U. S. Election Assistance Commission that encourages people to help America vote by signing up to be poll worker / election inspector.  

By encouraging more people to become poll workers / election inspectors in their communities, National Poll Worker Recruitment Day works to address a critical shortage of poll workers / election inspectors, strengthen democracy, and inspire greater civic engagement, according to a release received by Tioga County’s BOE.

State Election Law requires poll workers / election inspectors to represent either the Democratic or the Republican parties. If an election inspector is not affiliated with any party, or is affiliated with a different party, the election inspector must choose to represent one of the major parties on Election Day.

Tioga County’s BOE, in their prepared release, wrote, “Serving as an election inspector is a great way to support the electoral process, give back to their community as well as become more aware of the diligent scrutiny with specific procedures of checks and balances ensuring an honest and fair election.”

In addition, the release explained, these election inspectors are paid for attending the mandatory annual training according to Election Law, as well as for working Early Voting and or Election Day.

The release continued, “We encourage our current election inspectors to seek a High School or college student, friend, neighbor or relative to take the training to bolster our team of election inspectors such that it could be a way to have split shifts on Election Day in the foreseeable future. These folks would confirm, should one or the other not be able to fulfill the full Election Day shift, that they would cover for that other person.

Interested voters are encouraged to contact the Tioga County Board of Elections at VoteTioga@tiogacountyny.gov or by calling (607) 687-8261 to be placed on the list for a mid-spring or summer training class.