Burnet County needs poll workers
Burnet County needs more poll workers for early voting Feb.14-25 and Election Day on March 1 and is holding two training days for those who would like to help. Positions pay $10 an hour during early voting and $12 an hour on Election Day. The county is seeking election judges, alternate judges, election clerks, and deputy early voting clerks.
Training is 1-4 p.m. Jan. 31 or 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 1 in the Burnet County AgriLife Extension Auditorium, 607 N. Vandeveer St. in Burnet.
Those interested may fill out an application and return it to the county elections office. Applications and contact information are available on the Burnet County Elections website.
“Once we get this application, we will gather the information from the application and add it to our database. Then, we forward the information to the appropriate Democratic or Republican party chair,” said county Elections Administrator Doug Ferguson said.
DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Ferguson said the election judge, who is typically someone with more experience in the process, is in charge of the polling location on Election Day and manages the location’s operation.
“The alternate judge performs the duty of an election clerk unless the (election) judge has to leave the premises for any reason. Then, the alternate would assume the responsibility of the judge,” Ferguson said. “Clerks make up the rest of the Election Day crew and will perform different tasks, such as checking in voters, assigning their ballot styles to get the access code for each voter, helping voters with filling out forms when necessary, etc.”
Poll workers at a location actually share in most of the duties, including the judge and alternate judge, he added. During the day, they’ll often change duties, which helps keep everyone fresh. During early voting, everyone is a deputy clerk.
Workers typically sign up for an 8 a.m.-5 p.m. shift during early voting, although two of those days are 12 hours long. On the longer days, two shifts are scheduled to overlap.
Some Election Day workers take half-day shifts since polls are open 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Shifts can be from 6 a.m.-1 p.m. or 1 p.m. to closing.
Anyone interested in becoming a poll worker should contact the Burnet County Elections office at 512-715-5288 or either one of the party chairs: Burnet County Democratic Chair Mel Hazelwood at 361-215-1996 or methodistmel@yahoo.com or Burnet County Republican Chair Kara Chasteen at 512-963-2856, ksgcme@yahoo.com, or karac@hughes.net.