With the start of early voting in New York City set for this Saturday, October 24th, many of the temporary workers who operate the poll sites, and who election officials deem “essential,” are still waiting for their poll site assignments.
These are the people who, for a stipend, fan out across the city to administer democracy for the rest of us. Many people signed up this year despite, or maybe because of, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. According to a New York City Board of Elections staffing report, more than 52,000 people signed up for the job. (In 2012 and 2016, before NYC had early voting, there were 34,000 poll workers during the general election.)
A spokesperson for the city Board of Elections confirmed that assignments were ongoing, and would continue until Election Day, November 3rd. That’s partly because training is still underway. The October 5th staffing report showed just shy of 20,000 people had completed the poll worker training; more than 30,000 workers are still expected to complete it.
The rolling assignments were a challenge for first-time poll workers and several told Gothamist/WNYC they’re eager to get a match. It already was a journey to get this far. Poll worker applicants had to find a training session, complete it, and pass a test to be considered eligible.
The training manual
“I'd been warned by other people who tried to become poll workers that the training sessions are the hardest part to get into because there are so many people trying,” said Kristen Meinzer, a former journalist turned independent podcast host, who managed to complete a class in Brooklyn after checking the Board’s website daily for weeks to find an opening.
She said the training was thorough, starting with COVID-19 safety protocols and running the gamut of what’s needed to administer an election. Meinzer said she wanted the job so some of her older neighbors, who may be more at risk for the coronavirus, could sit this election out.
Listen to reporter Brigid Bergin's radio story for WNYC:
As of Thursday, two days before the start of early voting, Meinzer was not assigned to a poll site.
“Every day I log in and check to find out: Have you assigned me yet? And I still don't know the answer,” she said.
June Moses at training
Wali Ullah, who served as a poll worker in 2016, said he completed the updated training for this year and was also waiting for his poll site assignment. In his last semester at the City College of New York, Ullah hoped to use the $2,800 he could earn as a poll worker to pay off his final tuition bill.
“The uncertainty right now regarding whether or not I am going to be working next week and on Election Day, it's giving me a bit of anxiety,” Ullah said.
But June Moses, who has served as a poll worker for two decades and co-hosts a podcast called Sunday Civics, was not worried. She completed the Election Day training in a class at the Jacob Javits Center, one of a handful of larger venues the Board tapped to conduct large, in-person training.
Moses said she was pleased to be one of just a few veteran poll workers at the training, and relished the new energy in the room.
To Moses, an election is a celebration. “If everybody comes in with their patience packed and positive attitudes, it actually should be fun,” she said.
