Training for poll workers for November's elections is underway across San Diego County. The Registrar of Voters office has already processed almost 6,500 applications but said they still need almost 400 bilingual poll workers.
They are specifically looking for Chinese, Spanish, Filipino and Vietnamese speakers. Poll workers receive a stipend of $75 to $175 depending on what job they are selected for. They can receive an additional $15 if they are fluent in one of the desired languages.
"If a voter comes in and they’re speaking English as a second language it's wonderful if we can present them with a ballot and a person, the whole process, in their language. You can imagine how much more comfortable you are if you really understand everything that’s going on," said John Duane, who has worked the polls in San Diego for 12 years and taught the required training for 10 years.
Poll workers are required to take a 60 to 90-minute online class and a 3 to 4 hour in-person training.
"We show them how to assist the voters and the different kind of situations that could happen to them and then they also need to account for their ballots and so we show them the processes in the ROV (Registrar of Voters) and how they can use their manual to accomplish these things," Duane said.
This election almost 2,000 high school students applied to be a poll worker. Savanah Baird is a senior at Grossmont High School and heard about the opportunity to work on election day from her advanced placement government teacher.
"It sounded like it would be a really cool experience to see how it works in preparation for when I get to vote in the future," she said.
For more information to become a poll worker visit the San Diego County Registrar of Voters website.
