Earn Extra Income as A Poll Worker

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With the November general election just around the corner, and COVID-19 in full swing, the United States is facing a poll-worker shortage. If you are feeling healthy and need some extra income, you can work as a poll worker in your state.

I worked for King County Elections for several election cycles. Even though Washington State is completely vote-by-mail, temporary election workers were needed to help update addresses, send out replacement ballots, proofread voter pamphlets, pick-up ballots from dropbox locations, and assist individuals at Accessible Voting Centers (ACVs). I’ve done all of the above, and for one election cycle, I even got to use my voice-over skills to voice the audio ballots for the seeing impaired!

Many election positions are PAID…not volunteer! Of course, this varies depending on where you live, but in most areas you can earn some extra money as an election worker. In some states you can be as young at 16. In King County, the elections office was unionized, so we received a more than fair wage.

Government work is fairly easy to get, but you will need to pass a background check and jump through a lot of hoops.  Once you get it, though, if you do a good job, you could be called back for other assignments. If you’re bilingual, you might just get more work to help translate ballots, candidate descriptions, posters, and other printed materials.

If you’re interested in this type of work you can check out the sites below to see if they’re still hiring and how you can become involved. You can also reach out to your local election office. I absolutely loved my time working for King County elections – it was a wonderful experience seeing and being a part of democracy in action!

https://www.powerthepolls.org

https://www.nass.org/can-i-vote/become-a-poll-worker

https://www.eac.gov/voters/become-poll-worker