Need advice on working election polls

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Been doing it for years, but in suburban NY...

And I don't know what how it works in Texas. But a lot of it would be similar.

Here, the county runs major elections, does the hiring and paying, buys and maintains the machines, etc. etc. Smaller elections, like local school boards, are run by the localities, since the county would charge them.

The days are long-- polls open at six AM and close at 9PM, and figure an hour and a half on top of that to open and close. Every time I do it, everyone says never again, but then the same faces show up next time.

I've worked at least half a dozen different polling places in the county, and never seen actual cheating or corruption. The system works hard to make it difficult, and most people who do this seem basically honest anyway. I would not be surprised if that's the same down there. Besides any obvious and illegal stuff, like ballot manipulation, you might want to think about structural problems, like any difference in treatment of women or minorities. Here, we tend to give everyone the benefit of the doubt and if they are not in the roll book for some reason we give them affidavit or other special ballots and have judges standing by for special cases.

Just don't go in assuming the worst because of all the internet hysteria. There are still problems, but i doubt it's as bad as some would have you believe.

Being a local election, turnout probably won't be that high so you can wander off for a break pretty much any time the place is pretty empty. Local rules apply, though, as do whoever is running the show.