As the election season is slowly coming closer, many people start to wonder how they can be a part of this process. And in reality, even if you do not like to be working under a particular employer, the whole process of coordinating an election and its campaigns can be one of the most exciting jobs out there.
Many consider election campaigns as a soccer league, even though you aren’t a big fan of the game, the thought of teams having to compete with each other to get the trophy at stake is really exciting.
The main reason being that most of the followers of the election campaigns do not care who won at the end of the game, but they are really interested about all the events and happenings that had led them to win the final game.
Moreover, if you are working under a specific candidate, then your happiness will go through the roof if the candidate wins the election. Hence, if you are interested in modern politics and you want to have an exciting and thrilling experience then volunteering for a political campaign is the right option for you.
1. Poll worker:
The job duties of a poll worker are assigned on the election day itself. Their main responsibilities include taking care and managing various poll duties and also supervising the fellow workers at the polling site.
Poll workers have a wide range of job and duties and they are the busiest people during the election day. Their duties include giving out ballot papers to the registered voters, registering the new voters, conducting background checking on them, ensuring that there is the correct number of voting equipment, checking the working of the equipment, explaining how to use the voting equipment to new voters, and helping the voting officials to count the votes.
The various responsibilities among poll workers are as follows:
- To help and set up the venue where the polling is supposed to take place by setting up tables, chairs, posters and equipments beneficial for the polling process to take place.
- It is their responsibility to contact the election commissioner or the judge of elections and make sure that they arrive safely at the polling venue during the election day.
- They are expected to conduct the various training required for the position.
- They are also expected to have a sound knowledge about the various laws, policies and also the various rules and regulations required for the polling process.
- They are the ones required to ensure that the polling process is going on smoothly and in a lawful and proper order without any problems or obstacles.
- They also assist the voters during their tasks and document their voters accordingly in a just and an unbiased manner.
- They are also the ones who help the voting officials to close the elections after the election day and also to help them wrap up and assist them in closing the polls.
Many poll workers are expected to work at least 12-14 hours a day and maybe overtime during the election day depending upon the strength of the votes and the number of people. An advantage of poll workers is that they are paid a large sum for the amount of work they do and in some cases, they might be even paid by the hour.
2. Technology specialist:
An election technology specialist specializes in various factors such as managing and troubleshooting electrical equipment failures especially in the case of equipment related to the voting equipment and the server, they also specialize in managing the database of the voters and ensure that there is no leakage of their personal info and create necessary protocols for information safety. They prevent any chances of identity and information theft from the database.
The various responsibilities of an election technology specialist are as follows:
- They manage the various electing equipment present at the polling stations and also assist and manage the necessary up gradation process of the computers and also handle the database servers.
- They also help in assisting and checking the new election equipment and the associated software and hardware systems. They are also the ones responsible for implementing any new changes in to the voting equipment and also the hardware and software systems.
- They also set up mock ballots to test the integrity of the voting equipment and to check for any flaws and shortcomings
- They also prepare and send reports based on the functioning and working of the voting equipment and also on the state of the database and its associated servers.
- They also handle and manipulate the various documents, presentations spreadsheets, audio and digital files and other files from the web and convert them such that it is able to meet the basic W3C standards and also for the ease of understanding of the voters
- They also maintain an inventory containing the password and computer details that are used during the polling process for safety and also to prevent any form of cheating and manipulation.
- They also keep a constant contact with the various departments working for the election process so as to see if there is any need for troubleshooting or if there is any hardware or software related issues that needs to be solved.
- The technical specialist can also be responsible for training the workers in various factors such as troubleshooting hardware and software problems such as printers and retrieval of files from the system and they also teach them on how to use the new voting equipment and software.
- They also frequently check for any types of files that should be deleted or archived in the system or the database.
This can be the perfect jobs for people who have a degree in computer science and who are interested in working long hours and are comfortable to work under pressure. In general the main purpose of the technology specialist at the elections is to oversee the fact that everything is going smoothly without any obstruction and hitches, especially in the hardware and software department. In some cases an election technology specialist is also the person responsible for recruiting, coordinating, training and managing a large number of full time and part time workers during the election process.
3. Communications coordinator:
If you are an individual who prefers to work for a certain candidate instead of working for the whole election process in general, then having a job as the communications coordinator might be a suitable and preferable choice for you.
As the name suggests their main job responsibility is to make sure that the different teams working for an election campaign should be able to effectively communicate with each other and do their work more productively. There are many duties and responsibilities that these individuals have during the elections. These include:
- They have the responsibility for accurately and professionally communicating with the public, the investors, sponsors, stakeholders and to the election commission about any issues related to the campaign and the candidate.
- To achieve this objective, it is expected that the communications coordinator should be knowledgeably sound in professional writing, and should be skilled in team managing and coordinating and also an expert in web designing and they should also be able to properly utilize their communications skills into good use.
- They are also responsible for fabricating, transforming the various strategic plans and they are the ones who are coordinating the implementation of these plans from start to finish.
- They also ensure that the communication between sponsors and stakeholders are just and professional providing them with the adequate and necessary information.
- They also do lots of research regarding the various policies, laws, regulations and various legislations on different matters through various trusted and efficient sources.
- They are also the ones who schedule interviews and public interactions such as rallies and press conferences or private interview for news channels and so on.
This job is perfect for people who have a degree in journalism or they have any degree related to the communication filed such as a master in language or public administration.
4. Voter translator:
As the name suggests the main job of a voter translator is to provide translation facilities to citizens who do not know the native language. They are basically used to help the new immigrants or helping voters who speak foreign languages in order to help them understand and solve their various doubts and queries regarding the election process and also to help them explain in how to use the electronic voting system if needed.
They are also the people responsible for informing the foreign voters about the various voting procedures that they should follow during or before the decided election day. If you are interested in helping others on how to vote and also know any foreign minority languages, then this might be the job for you.
To become an official voter translator the individual is expected to take a bilingual exam, after which they will paid hourly during the election day. They also help people who have a limited knowledge in English and have very little proficiency in understanding the English language.
5. Elections outreach worker:
If you are an individual who is experienced in managing customers, have excellent communications skills and you are very much passionate about the candidate then, this might be the perfect job for you.
The main function of voter outreach worker is to educate people of various walks of life about the candidate and explain what the candidate has promised for them to be fulfilled if elected for the position. They are also responsible for reaching out to the minority groups, college students and the elderly who are an important part of the election process and also constitute a good part of the voter’s strength. The various responsibilities that an outreach worker has is as follows:
- Recruiting , managing and training poll workers.
- They are also responsible for training and managing various voter translators and providing them with the necessary guidelines.
- They also conduct early polling activities such as reaching out to the minority groups for votes for the candidate.
- They also prepare and present the necessary information that is required to be presented at the various chapter meetings and also at the various tribal meetings.
- Assisting, conducting and overseeing the various voter registration drives among the minority and the student groups.
- They also play a beneficial part in training and recruiting temporary workers and provide them with the necessary information.
- They also lead the designing process of various order forms, posters, power point presentations, flyers and also the related informational materials regarding the information about the candidate. These can be done for the better understanding about the candidate among various groups of people.
- They also provide the necessary information during the budget making process and also decide on the pay roll that is provided for the part time and temporary workers working under them.
- They also lead and direct the various outreach programs targeted to the elderly and the minorities so as to gain votes for the candidate.
As mentioned before, this can easily be one of the most thrilling moments of your life and you can easily experience the amount of competition and hard work that each worker does to make sure that the election day and the voting process is a huge success.
This might be also a perfect chance for you to meet a new group of people and maintain a good professional relationship with them. Not only will this make you love your election job more, but will also help you to encourage in working hard and provide productive results that you could be proud of. These jobs might not sound as one of the best jobs in the world, but they sure provide an experience worth the amount of hard work and time spent.
