Election Judges and Poll Watchers CW 48

Commonwealthy

Two key roles that every campaign needs to be made aware of for election day are election judges and poll watchers. The jobs, roles and purpose of election judges and poll watchers are described and explained. Vital to honest elections and an effective Get Out the Vote plan every candidate and campaign staffer needs to understand how to find, recruit and use election judges and poll watchers effectively.

I came back from CPAC with an idea on how to use FOIA (the Freedom of Information Act) in a campaign. That tip first and then a thorough explanation of why a campaign needs election judges and poll watchers.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Why election judges and poll watchers are necessary in a campaign- learn the importance of the people working the polls to your campaign
• What the job of an election judge is- learn what an election judges duties are
• How can you get election judges help you with your poll watching– learn how to ask an election judge to volunteer for your campaign as a poll watcher
• Why are election judges and poll watchers essential to Get Out The Vote (GOTV)- learn the functions that each role fulfills in a GOTV plan
• Who pays the election judges- yes here is a paid role in a campaign that does noncom out of your campaigns budget
• What a poll watcher does- learn the important job that a poll watcher does
• What to do if you do not have enough poll watchers- learn different strategies to deal with a shortage of poll watchers
• What data systems work best for poll watching- a poll watcher does no good if their data cannot get back into your data system
• What credentials should a poll watcher have and where do you get them- learn where the proper paper work is obtained and how to file your poll watchers
• How and why you need back up plans for poll watching and GOTV- lear backup procedures in case computers or systems fail
• What you should bring to be prepared as a poll watcher or election judge- learn how to be comfortable during the long day in the polls as an election judge or poll watcher
• Why you should always be recruiting volunteers for election day- learn why you need as many people as possible on election day
• What simple idea can maximize your poll watching coverage- learn if sharing poll watchers with another campaign is right for you

Contact information:John Tsarpalas Twitter: @JTsarpalas Email: [e-mail]

Transcript: Available here

Thank you for listening!