by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Though the heavy traffic flow at the Supervisor of Elections Office should ease now that the candidate qualifying period has ended, the men and women behind the scenes say that they’ve been hard at work all along.
Sylvia Schultz is the director of education at the Supervisor of Elections Office where poll worker recruitment and training efforts have been up and running for over a month.
“We’ve been getting them ready since the beginning of February,” said Schultz. “It doesn’t even matter to us who qualifies. There will be an election no matter what and we need to be sure that we’re ready for it.”
Schultz estimated that 2,800 poll workers — who would need to be in place by 6 a.m. on election day to set up the booths and welcome voters — would be on the job at various polls around the city. Prior to being assigned to a particular precinct, however, poll workers attend a class and are, subsequently, tested. They are paid a stipend for the day which, according to Schultz, “doesn’t translate into a very high hourly wage.”
“They have to be up by 5 a.m. that morning so it’s definitely a long, 14-hour day,” she said. “But it also can be a lot of fun because you get to be part of history and the democratic process. A lot of people who have worked at the polls before are able to turn it into a social occasion.”
Recruiting and training will continue through the end of March and Schultz said they still need more people to help run the polls.
“It’s been a weird phenomenon,” she said. “We had a large number of people who all started doing it at the same time and then decide to retire at the same time. We are absolutely looking for more people.”
Those interested in going to work at the polls should call Joyce Roland at 301-2944 to request an application and make reservations for a training date. Additionally, they can visit www.duvalelection.coj.net online or stop by the downtown office at 105 E. Monroe St. Poll workers need to be at least 18-years-old and registered to vote in Duval County.