I'm a long-time member of the 3-member Electoral Board in a small, rural VA county. I can tell you from contact with Electoral Board members and General Registrars across Virginia, we all have one problem in common: NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE TO WORK AT THE POLLS.
It's a real commitment.
-- TRAINING: Our Officers of Election are trained annually -- it's a 4-6 hour training session, usually in October before the November general election. All our training including how-to documents and videos are online, but, EVERYONE must attend the in-person training.
-- ELECTION DAY: Election Day is TOUGH. Report to the precinct at 5:00 AM. Set up the equipment: Verify equipment seals, set in place, turn on, check it out, print initial reports. Deal with voters all day. When polls close at 7:00 PM, you still have 2 hours of work to do: Print tallies from voting machines, double-check that you have enough copies; account for every ballot -- used, unused, void, spoiled, provisional; fill out forms; fill out some more forms; everyone signs everything; clean up the mess; return everything to the Registrar's office and check it in. Get home around 10:30 - 11:00 PM -- that's a 15-18 hour day.
-- DEAL WITH THE PUBLIC. 99.5% of voters are nice people, patient with long lines, smile, follow instructions. Then, there is the 0.5% -- which is why we have sheriff's deputies on call.
Contact your city/county General Registrar to volunteer.
Did I mention the pay? It's not much.
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