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How You Can Help at The Polls

What is a Polling Station?

Polls are run in each area of your state, usually attached to a city or town. Election officials are called Election Clerks, or Municipal Clerks. There are a number of different jobs that Poll workers do in each location - some the day of the election and some before the election related to absentee ballots and early voting.


Step One

a. Find out who your Election Clerk is and their phone number using this tool:

b.  Contact your local Election clerk to let them know that you are interested in working at the polls. If you would like a script to help start the conversation with your local Election clerk please visit this link: Script for Approaching Election Clerks.

c. If you live in Maine print this document from Matt Dunlap, Secretary of State, supporting youth working the polls, Youthwork Makes the Boothwork,  and explaining how the law currently works in Maine. If you would like a summary of your state's laws governing who can work in the polls, use this compendium of the laws. Note: laws may have been updated since its 2016 publication.

Step Two

a. Once you have registered with your local election clerk, let your friends at school and in the social groups you belong to know about this opportunity. See if you can pull together a team to join you in this effort.

b. If it turns out you are not eligible to work or volunteer at the polls, consider doing Election Protection Work - see what is available for you at 866OurVote.org.

c. If you are a college student Power the Polls is a national effort to sign up college aged students as poll workers. (In Maine the people organizing the effort are Sadie Faucher at sadie@democracymaine.org and Meghan McCormick at meghan@mainecompact.org).

d. And, if you are interested in building a youth movement to work the polls in this election and into the future, please contact us and consider joining our youth steering committee.

If you have questions or concerns, let us know here.

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