Become a Poll Worker

You are eligible to work as a poll worker if you are at least 18 years old, qualified to vote and a resident of Racine County, and you are NOT a candidate for any office being voted on at the polling location during the election.

To be a poll worker you must:

• Be able to speak, read and write fluently in the English language
• Have good hearing, can sit for long periods of time, efficient in finding names and numbers in the poll books, good penmanship
• Have strong clerical skills, be able to solve problems and be an effective communicator
• Be able to work in a team
• Enjoy people and service to others
• Be comfortable with new technology

Your essential duties include helping to open the polls, registering voters, issuing ballots, providing assistance to voters, explaining the use of voting equipment and closing the polling location.

At least one training session is required per election cycle. The clerk’s office will notify election officials when a training is mandatory.

On Election Day, poll workers will start at 6:30 a.m. and work until the end of the day and completion of their duties, typically 10:00 p.m.

Wisconsin law requires every employer to grant an unpaid leave of absence to each employee who is appointed to serve as a poll worker if the employee who serves provides his or her employer with at least seven (7) days of notice. The leave is for the entire 24-hour period of each Election Day in which the employee serves. Upon request of any employer, the Clerk will verify the appointment.

According to the IRS: Election Workers: Election workers are common-law employees; however, under IRC 3121b)(7)(F)(iv) an exception from FICA is provided for election officials and workers who earn less than a specified amount for a calendar year ($1,400 in 2008). This provision applies to employing entities that do not have a Section 218 Agreement. If the employing entity has a Section 218 Agreement, the Agreement determines the treatment of election worker wages for social security tax. It may exclude election workers altogether from social security; it may specify a lower threshold at which social security tax is withheld; or it may provide no exclusion for election workers, in which case social security and Medicare taxes apply from the first dollar paid.