Latest / Brian Thomas / Brian talks with Sherry Poland from the BOE --- We need poll workers!

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Brian talks with Sherry Poland from the BOE --- We need poll workers! · Brian Thomas

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  Speaker 1: Talk Station. 747 at 55 KRC, the Talk Station. Hey,
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  Speaker 1: did you know that early voting is going on right now?
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  Speaker 1: Someone who knows that and is looking for a little assistance,
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  Speaker 1: welcome back to the 55 KRC Morning Show. Sherry Poland
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  Speaker 1: from the Hamilton County Board of Elections, and let me
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  Speaker 1: just sing praises of my experience with the Hamilton County
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  Speaker 1: Board of Elections. It is a well-oiled machine, in and out,
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  Speaker 1: virtually no time, plenty of room, plenty of parking. The
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  Speaker 1: old days are gone, and It's easy to get in
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  Speaker 1: and vote. So as I say, go out and vote
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  Speaker 1: to my listening audience. Welcome back, Sherry. It's great having
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  Speaker 1: you on, and thanks for the great work you're doing
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  Speaker 1: at the Hamilton County Board of Elections.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning. Thank you for having me on, and thank
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  Speaker 2: you for that compliment. I'll share it with our hardworking
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  Speaker 2: team here.
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  Speaker 1: Please do. And before we get to your need for
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  Speaker 1: poll workers, I noted on the Hamilton County, your site,
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  Speaker 1: which is VoteHamiltonCountyOhio.gov. That's where you find the Hamilton County
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  Speaker 1: Board of Elections. You had a post for seasonal employment.
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  Speaker 1: This is separate from poll worker needs? You need people
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  Speaker 1: there at the Board of Elections to work?
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  Speaker 2: We do hire a number of seasonal employees during election cycles. Fortunately,
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  Speaker 2: those positions are full. We do, yeah, those are full.
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  Speaker 2: We've just had our last orientation. We do have some
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  Speaker 2: positions available to work here election night at the board.
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  Speaker 2: It's basically, you know, helping us unload the trucks for
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  Speaker 2: those that are, you know, physically capable of doing that,
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  Speaker 2: to help us unload the ballot bags, equipment. and then
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  Speaker 2: also do some inspections and assist with the vote count.
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  Speaker 2: So I know we're going to talk about poll workers
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  Speaker 2: in a minute, but we do have openings for opposition, too.
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  Speaker 2: So if you're not able to work all day, you
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  Speaker 2: could come and help us out election night.
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  Speaker 1: Fantastic. And in terms of voting, you have a schedule
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  Speaker 1: for when people can stop in the Hamilton County Board
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  Speaker 1: of Election and cast their vote. Can we just go
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  Speaker 1: through that right now? Because I'm on this tear of
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  Speaker 1: late to get people to early vote. And it looks
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  Speaker 1: like you've had a sizable number of people According to
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  Speaker 1: WCPO reporting, the number of at least Democrats that have
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  Speaker 1: come in is a 300 percent increase over the last time.
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  Speaker 1: So are you seeing a lot of foot traffic? Is
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  Speaker 1: it more or are you seeing numbers that you normally experience, Sherry?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, our early in-person numbers are definitely up. We are,
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  Speaker 2: as of close of business yesterday, we've had 14,000 people
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  Speaker 2: already vote here. Yeah, the Board of Elections since last Tuesday.
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  Speaker 2: So in comparison to the last midterm, at the same
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  Speaker 2: point in time, we had just a little over 4,000.
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  Speaker 2: So definitely an increase in early in-person voting. I think
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  Speaker 2: more and more people are choosing to cast their ballots
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  Speaker 2: this way.
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  Speaker 1: Fair enough. Well, again, why not? You don't know what's
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  Speaker 1: going to happen on Election Day. If you really know
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  Speaker 1: you want to vote and you're going to wait for
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  Speaker 1: Election Day, you don't know what's going to come on
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  Speaker 1: Election Day. You know, the world's an imperfect place, Sherry Poland,
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  Speaker 1: so why not just get it out of the way? Anyway,
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  Speaker 1: between now, it looks like Monday through Friday, 8 a.m.
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  Speaker 1: to 5 p.m., is that weekdays that you're open?
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  Speaker 2: That's correct. That's this week and next week. And then
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  Speaker 2: we start going into some extended hours. So, for example, Saturday,
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  Speaker 2: October 24th, we'll be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
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  Speaker 2: And then that final week before Election Day, we open
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  Speaker 2: weekdays at 730 a.m. We're open until 7.30 p.m., Monday
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  Speaker 2: through Friday, that final week. There's one exception, Tuesday, October 27th.
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  Speaker 2: The board actually stays open until 8.30 p.m. because that
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  Speaker 2: is also the last day to request your vote-by-mail ballot.
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  Speaker 2: So the Secretary of State orders all board speakers to
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  Speaker 2: stay open an extra hour for in-person voting and also
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  Speaker 2: to receive those vote-by-mail applications. And then, of course, we're
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  Speaker 2: open the last weekend before Election Day, Halloween. We will
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  Speaker 2: be here Halloween, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. So you
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  Speaker 2: can come and vote before you go take the kids trick-or-treating.
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  Speaker 2: And then Sunday, November 1st, those are our shortest hours,
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  Speaker 2: 1 to 5 p.m., and that is the last day
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  Speaker 2: to vote early in person. There is no voting on Monday,
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  Speaker 2: November 2nd, the day before Election Day closes. gives us
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  Speaker 2: a little time to turn the ship around and focus
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  Speaker 2: on Election Day.
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  Speaker 1: Of course. And Election Day requires poll workers, which is
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  Speaker 1: what we're going to pivot to now, because every year, Sherry,
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  Speaker 1: you come on every election cycle and make the same request.
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  Speaker 1: And I implore my listeners to consider working the polls
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  Speaker 1: and also maybe get their young people, seniors that are
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  Speaker 1: 17 years old in high school, they can work the
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  Speaker 1: polls now, right, Sherry?
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely. In the state of Ohio, 17-year-olds can work the polls.
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  Speaker 2: They're paid the same amount as their adult counterparts, $ 225.
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  Speaker 2: So that's a nice little chunk of change for a 17-year-old.
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  Speaker 2: Of course, we do not assign them to manager positions,
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  Speaker 2: but they do a tremendous job in helping us with
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  Speaker 2: some of the more physical aspects of the job, setting
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  Speaker 2: up the voting booths, putting the signs outside. And they're
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  Speaker 2: so comfortable with today's technology, and they can check in
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  Speaker 2: voters on our tablets very quickly. So highly encourage 17-year-olds.
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  Speaker 2: And it would look great on a job application or
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  Speaker 2: college application.
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  Speaker 1: That's what I think the real value is there. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: they get to learn about their civic responsibility, and they
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  Speaker 1: can experience Election Day. But just the idea that they
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  Speaker 1: did take that step, it obviously sets them apart from
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  Speaker 1: a lot of other young people that clearly they're going
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  Speaker 1: to be competing with in higher education spots. All right,
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  Speaker 1: so for the rest of the world, Sherry Poland, what
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  Speaker 1: is involved? Let's walk through the details of your obligations
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  Speaker 1: if you do choose to work the polls.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, so it's easy to sign up. You could just
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  Speaker 2: simply go on to our website. You mentioned it before,
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  Speaker 2: and then click on the poll worker button. You can
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  Speaker 2: apply online, or if you prefer, you can give us
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  Speaker 2: a call at the Board of Elections, 513-946-8500. We will
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  Speaker 2: assign you to a training class, so all poll workers
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  Speaker 2: are required to to attend a training course here at
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  Speaker 2: the Board of Elections headquarters in Norwood. We offer those
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  Speaker 2: training courses weekdays, mornings, afternoons, and evenings. And then we
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  Speaker 2: have Saturday morning and afternoon classes. So we have a
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  Speaker 2: class that will fit anyone's schedule. Then after they are well-trained,
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  Speaker 2: they will go to their assigned polling location on Monday,
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  Speaker 2: November 2nd. So in the evening to the day before
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  Speaker 2: Election Day, they meet their fellow poll workers, set up
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  Speaker 2: the polling place, Then they go back on Election Day.
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  Speaker 2: We do require them to be in at 530 in
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  Speaker 2: the morning. We know that's very early, but we want
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  Speaker 2: to make sure the polls are ready to be open
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  Speaker 2: by 630 a.m.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it's not that early.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely not for you.
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  Speaker 1: Send the guy who gets up at 230 in the morning, right?
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  Speaker 1: That's a sleeping in day. 530, come on, you can
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  Speaker 1: manage that one day. Yeah, and I'll give my wife
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  Speaker 1: serious props because I think she worked at Pulse for
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  Speaker 1: about a decade. She's taking a little hiatus now, but
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  Speaker 1: she did put in and always enjoyed it. That's the
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  Speaker 1: other thing. This isn't like walking into this political minefield.
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  Speaker 1: Everybody plays very nicely together, at least if history is
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  Speaker 1: any guide. Isn't that right, Sherry? Oh.
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  Speaker 2: You know, it's still a place where Democrats and Republicans
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  Speaker 2: work together for the good of the people. Right. And
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  Speaker 2: it's it's not a difficult job. You know, we train
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  Speaker 2: you and believe me, we have tremendous amount of support
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  Speaker 2: for the poll workers on Election Day. We have troubleshooters
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  Speaker 2: that are out in the field ready to help them.
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  Speaker 2: We have a staff to help that specifically for poll workers.
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  Speaker 2: So it's not a difficult job, but it's such an
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  Speaker 2: important job. And you're right, they get along, they work together.
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  Speaker 2: We put our politics aside and we just focus on
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  Speaker 2: our common mission, and that's to conduct free and fair elections.
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  Speaker 2: And poll workers actually bring democracy into their community. So
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  Speaker 2: it's a really rewarding experience. As your wife works for
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  Speaker 2: more than a decade, which we so appreciate, we find
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  Speaker 2: that a lot. 70% of our poll workers return every
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  Speaker 2: election cycle. So we have, you know, they come back.
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  Speaker 2: I think that if it was, you know, a challenging
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  Speaker 2: or unpleasant experience, we wouldn't have so many come back
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  Speaker 2: elections at every election.
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  Speaker 1: Exactly. Sherry Poland, again, thanks to you and everybody with
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  Speaker 1: the Hamilton County Board of Elections to get your mail-in ballot.
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  Speaker 1: You can do it at the website to sign up
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  Speaker 1: for working the polls. You can do it at the website,
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  Speaker 1: which is VoteHamiltonCountyOhio.gov. Sherry, best of luck between now and
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  Speaker 1: the election day and, of course, on election day. And
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  Speaker 1: thanks again for my listening audience for the fine work
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  Speaker 1: that you do.