£203 for a day of work - thought I'd share for those who fancy it

[BatFaceOwl]

I do this a lot but thought I'd share for those who may not be aware - it's a long day (very long!) but easy money

Councils are currently recruiting for polling clerks. The pay is £183 for the day (obviously 4th May!) plus £20 for the easy online training.

Just fill in the form online, no interview required, position allocated to you within a day or so.

I don't actually 'work' for the council! I run my own business but I do this when I can as it's nice and easy - although long!

Any questions, just ask away and I'll see if I can answer

@malapast excellent!

Thanks.

I'm a Presiding Officer, I love it! I love less that all the protesters will be directed to me!

It's fine @SpringLobelia but it'll ideally need to be photo ID. If your name is different, but you have a reasonable explanation why and the photo on your ID is a reasonable likeness then you'll be able to vote.

We had a 2 hour training session and there's a big thick book to read for all eventualities too. But worst case scenario you just call electoral services and they'll tell you what to do!

@SpringLobelia you can justify your name change with your marriage certificate, yes.

@malapast you will not be allowed to vote, will not be issued with a ballot paper, and if you persist in your protest the police will be called.

When I counted votes for a council election, every batch of votes had to be counted by two people.

My least favourite thing about the process was that the candidates for the ward your table was counting would usually crowd round and watch your every movement. Some would try to keep their own tally, ask you to check if you’d just put a ballot paper on the wrong pile, joke about stealing a rival’s votes etc.

One young colleague found them so annoying, he started teasing them by pretending he was putting a ballot on the wrong pile, only to not actually put it down. Some of the candidates were FURIOUS.

In some wards, voters were allowed to vote for two candidates, so you’d end up with “mixed votes” e.g. a ballot paper with one vote for Labour and another for an Independent. These ballots took a disproportionate amount of time to count, as we had to lay them out on a special board so they all lined up, and count across the rows. Still at £20 an hour, I didn’t mind if it took ages.

If I weren’t busy this time round, I’d do it again. Some councils will have recruited for the May elections weeks ago, but sometimes people drop out and they may need replacements at very short notice. My friend was once paid £50 to be a standby polling clerk. She wasn’t needed on the day, so ended up working on the count as well. It turned out to be a nice little earner for her.

When I counted votes for a council election, every batch of votes had to be counted by two people.

yeah, that's how it works, double count everything & recount until the counts agree. All on the tables in full view of observers. I don't mind being watched but it's awkward when observers try to talk to you; they aren't supposed to talk to you at all and we aren't supposed to talk back. I like the piles of sweets. The only intense night was Brexit vote. Some watchers were totally wigged out. One young woman (LEAVER) was especially uptight & tense. I asked a supervisor about words on a ballot, just making sure it was valid vote how they filled it in. 3am in morning when I turned back to table I nearly put the weird-marked ballot (LEAVE of course) in wrong pile. Cute leaping about by some watchers, they were so convinced there was widespread conspiracy to rig the vote for REMAIN, fake votes or put LEAVE votes in REMAIN piles, etc. Poor supervisor had to step forward & tell observers all about our many steps to keep checking the votes repeatedly, to calm the watchers down.

also there's a huge whole protocol if a single ballot falls on the floor.

The most civilised vote was a day time count for local elections. The winning candidate was having pleasant chit chat and jokes with the losing candidate (an incumbent). Losing candidate was saying words like "Thank goodness, I'm free!" Very human. Nice change after the Brexit vote testiness.

Last time, My tablemate was always right & I was always wrong. Every single pile I counted was wrong. How many people can't accurately count to 20? Turns out .... me.

I've counted in ... maybe 6 elections? Only last one was really bad, but I never was brilliant at accuracy. Those little thumby things. AND I'm slow. A poll clerk position would have been nice, but not to be. We were invited to apply 2 months ago, so surprised it's being suggested as a job now.

I've done this a few times!

Too hard these days now I'm a parent and don't have the stamina for long days.

I did it in a london authority I won't name and always got a couple of famous faces!

One thing I would recommend is taking lots of snacks with you! It's a long day and you're not really supposed to leave the polling station once you arrive for the day.

Voting definitely attracts the conspiracists lol. Who remembers 'pencil-gate' a few years ago?
Voters started asking questions about why was a pencil used to mark the ballot paper. Then stating they would use their own non-erasable pens. And leaving pens in the booths for others to use. Very odd until we realised it was trending on social media and people were jumping on the bandwagon across the country.
They thought the ballot was rigged by armies of backroom staff armed with erasers!!
I did end up with a nice collection of biros at close of poll.

Oh I remember pencil gate 🙄 My standard response of 'just do it with a pen then if you like' seemed to slightly irritate those who were convinced I'd make them mark their paper with a pencil only.

Lots of folk come in with some quite odd pre conceived ideas but having been involved for almost 20 years I can say for sure that the chances of any wrongdoing are virtually nil!

I haven't read all of this thread so apologies if it's been said already.

If you decide to apply at this stage, (unless you are lucky enough to be allocated your own polling station to work at) make sure you are able to get a postal vote as you can't leave to cast your own vote elsewhere if you're working at a polling station.

Like others I'm not doing it this time due to the extra training (ours isn't online) for the ID requirements.

I was slow too! But there was a fair bit of waiting around in between wards, so I don’t think it mattered.

I was interested to see what happened with the spoilt ballots. Shortly before the Returning Officer announced the result for a particular ward, he’d ask for the candidates (or a representative from each party) to come forward. He’d then show them the spoilt ballots one by one. The candidates’ main interest was in seeing if any of them could be accepted as votes in their favour, e.g. “I don’t think that should be counted as a mark identifying the voter”. Or the Returning Officer might say, “Eric, are you happy for this to be counted as a vote for Labour?”

So if you can’t bear to vote for any of the candidates and you have a brief campaign/protest message you’d like to share with them, go for it by all means. But remember that your vote is FAR more likely to make a difference in a council election than a general election. We counted one ward with fewer than 20 votes in total. Also, one council election was so close that the deciding seat (and therefore the overall control of the council) was settled by a coin flip.

Yes, i responded similarly and some folk were definitely looking for a reaction/discussion.

I will be P.O. in an area new to me this time and unsure of the demographic so a little apprehensive about the ID requirement. It's always hard to turn someone away.

Thanks for posting, I've applied.

Thank you so much OP!

I have applied although it says the next election is May 2021 🤔
I am in Cornwall though and we are a bit behind the times 😁

Thanks for this:) just sent this over to my kid’s dad for him to apply!

Thanks @BatFaceOwl

I've just applied too.

I've got a position as poll clerk! Only I didn't realise it's a 17 hour day (my fault I didn't read the jd properly) and I'm 20 wks pregnant...really could do with the money but not sure I can face such long hours!!!

I applied on Friday and was offered a position on Monday. I'm looking forward to it. I'm involved with the count part.

Only nine hours for me @lalalalalala123

Thank you. Just completed online form.

I Poll Clerk and do the count as well (which is a really good atmosphere). Many people think we are volunteers or only work a few hours! It's best in a busy constituency and if you are with the same group of nice people.

I do think it will be challenging this time with the new voter ID requirements. Personally I think it puts a lot of pressure on the Presiding officers. It is going to be interesting. 🤔

I'm really glad that these position have been opened up to non-council people. The last council I worked in used to ringfence all of those roles for council staff (who were also paid for the day).

I never understood why but thought it really grasping when members of the public were just as capable and should have been able to get access.

I expect it was more just to ease the bureaucratic burden and also that those people are a known quantity/safe pair of hands.

I expect you're right, SweetSakura but a more prolific bunch of crooks I've never known. The idea of 'safe pair of hands' makes me laugh.
I'm glad that mere mortals can have a chance to earn this money now. In fact, it should be unavailable to council staff, unless they want to forgo their pay for the duration.