We Need YOU to RECRUIT Election Judges!
By
Sara Byron
How
many people have you met in the last 18 months that are looking for a way to
get involved in the political process?
This may be a perfect fit - a limited commitment that even pays a little
cash!
Every
even-numbered year after a primary, we go through a process of certifying
election judges for our party. You will
soon be asked to contact or call the judges on your precinct list that
currently serve, and any volunteers that have shown willingness to judge,
either when they registered or by submitting an online application. This gives us a chance to confirm the
availability and suitability of our Democratic election judges.
At
this time it is critical that we recruit new judges. Attrition and the demands of same day
registration have made this a high priority.
Many of the incumbent judges are reaching an age that makes it more
difficult to work such a long day. This
seems to be the case for the Republican Party a bit more than the Democrats. While most polling places used to have more Republican
judges, it has shifted recently. The Election
Commission has been counting on the Democrats to supply more judges – and so
far we’ve been able.
A good
person to recruit as a judge may be the spouse or partner of a PC. They tend to be Democrats and also are willing
to get involved! People who don’t have a
regular day job are most easily recruited.
They should be intelligent, personable and willing to work a long day on
Election Day (5 am to 8 or 9 pm). Pay is
$130 plus $30 for taking a very good 3-hour online training. Besides the pay, the job is fun and very
worthwhile. Judges and PC’s are the
backbone of the democratic process and the work is very rewarding.
Some
details that may be helpful in talking to people: Over the next two years there will be three
elections: a general election on the first Tuesday of November, November 6, 2018;
a consolidated election on April 2, 2019; and a primary election on Tuesday, March
17, 2020. Before each election all
judges receive an ‘availability to work letter’ asking if they are available
for that election and if they will work outside their precinct. If they answer ‘yes’ to the latter they
will generally not be asked to go far
from home.
For
more information and FAQ’s: https://www.dupageco.org/Election/37876/#Election_Workers. And I will be glad to answer questions if you
send me a message at sarabyron@att.net.
