Insights from interviews with election administrators For VCA implementation, we asked election officials about their poll worker training materials, and what changes they were expecting to make because of the switch to vote centers. They told us they are changing their models for staffing and management because, unlike precinct-based voting, vote center staff must be able to: handle a variable, potentially larger, numbers of voters on any given voting day issue ballot styles for the entire county receive vote-by-mail ballots administer conditional voter registration work with new and more technology be available for working days throughout early voting and election day. Good management of vote centers includes training on operations, procedures, interacting with voters, and managing technology day-to-day support of tasks managing queues and traffic flow troubleshooting using the technology efficiently and effectively. Many California counties have poll worker training manuals that include checklists to help staff on location. Counties anticipated updating and continuing to use checklists as part of their training materials. Administrators were concerned about technology literacy. Many counties said training on the use of technology would be the biggest change they envisioned between their current practices and what will be required from vote center workers. Some will implement new voting systems, but all counties that are working toward VCA must also implement electronic poll books. The need for workers who are comfortable using and troubleshooting technology, along with a long early voting period is driving changes in how counties staff their offices and vote centers versus precinct polling. Election workers would also have to understand the
Insights from interviews with election administrators For VCA implementation, we asked election officials about their poll worker training materials, and what changes they were expecting to make because of the switch to vote centers. They told us they are changing their models for staffing and management because, unlike precinct-based voting, vote center staff must be able to: handle a variable, potentially larger, numbers of voters on any given voting day issue ballot styles for the entire county receive vote-by-mail ballots administer conditional voter registration work with new and more technology be available for working days throughout early voting and election day. Good management of vote centers includes training on operations, procedures, interacting with voters, and managing technology day-to-day support of tasks managing queues and traffic flow troubleshooting using the technology efficiently and effectively. Many California counties have poll worker training manuals that include checklists to help staff on location. Counties anticipated updating and continuing to use checklists as part of their training materials. Administrators were concerned about technology literacy. Many counties said training on the use of technology would be the biggest change they envisioned between their current practices and what will be required from vote center workers. Some will implement new voting systems, but all counties that are working toward VCA must also implement electronic poll books. The need for workers who are comfortable using and troubleshooting technology, along with a long early voting period is driving changes in how counties staff their offices and vote centers versus precinct polling. Election workers would also have to understand the
Vote-center-materials-report-18-0802.docx