Polling Staff

[Allthegoodonesareg0ne]

So we are back again on July 4th!
Was wondering what kind of conditions you've had to put up with at Polling stations?!
Last elections I was in a tin box in the middle of a field with a portaloo outside. Only reachable by foot, no handwashing facilities or fridge. Was freezing and chucking it down so got soaked every comfort break but at least the milk didn't go off!
Lovely voters though and presiding officer was great to work with so could be worse!

My polling station is great, in a lovely country pub that’s busy. Great food and tea/coffee as required. I get on really well with my poll clerk and we have a long but good day. I’m very lucky

I find it does quick. I've always been lucky enough to have lovely people with me. I would think it could feel long if were stuck with someone you couldn't get along with

Polling station duty is worth it if you already work for the council as it's extra on top of your wages. You are already in the office in the preceding days so it's easy if you're presiding officer and need to pick up and check your box/key at lunchtime, go in for the training etc. If you don't work there, that's all extra time on top what you're actually paid for (though some training is paid).

As well as working the poll opening hours you've got to get to the polling station and set it up by 7am, then take everything down at the 10pm, bag it all up in a complicated envelope system and calculate the ballot account, take the box to the count (which can be a long drive in the dark in a large rural area) and queue to check it in, then commute home.

That can be about 23 hours in total if you commute in a rural district! So not wonderful pay unless it's top-up on one's usual salary. But most people actually enjoy it, though the three line whip makes us do it anyway.

Church hall attached to the church - tho they don't really use the church now apparently except for funerals, so we are in the little room that they do use for the church services.
There's a bigger hall beyond and a kitchen beyond that. Slimming World have a group there on Thursday mornings so it's quite busy then.
Kitchen has fridge, microwave etc; I've always taken my own cutlery but didn't this year as they always have plenty. Plenty of spoons and forks yes, but not a knife to be found this year. I had to make my cross in my baked potato with a pair of scissors I eventually found - and then had to clean, obviously.
Back to my own cutlery in July!
I've always been there except for the very first time I did it and that was in the nursery of a school, which had a separate building to the main school, bu again had fridge, microwave etc

@Guiltyaboutwork as it’s a general election, the Count will be done overnight. Earlier this month, we had Borough and PCC elections, and the Count was done the following day - PCC first (as it was for the whole of the county) then Borough.

I’m a PO and my usual polling station is in a community centre. A cold community centre! Reasonable car park outside. There is a small kitchen but I would never use the fridge and I don’t drink tea or coffee, so have never used it.

One of my Poll Clerks has worked with me about 4 times now, I ask for her each time. I was quite impressed with the other Poll Clerk I had in May for the first time, so I’ve asked to have him again.

then for the Count, I’m an Assistant Count Supervisor. I worked with a new DRO this month and she asked me and the Count Supervisor if we would be on her team for the General.

It’s a long day, but so very interesting.

Thanks @AlanBrendaCelia hoping for a warm day for you in July. If you do both must be a very long day.

Our polling station is my kids' school. It drives me mad, another fucking day closed. Closed for local elections this month too. It isn't fair on them.

Schools generally take the day as INSET so not an extra day's closure.

For years I was in a fabulous village hall with on-site managers who would have the heating on and help set up tables etc. then it was busy all day and evening with groups and clubs. And a double station so 6 or 7 of us working.

My current station is a portacabin with portaloo. Last month the generator broke down so for a while we had no heating, no lights and worst of all no kettle. But I have the best poll clerks .

I've done it over a number of years (busy with work this year so can't this time around) but I've mostly been in decent venues. Cricket club, community centres and school buildings etc. Facilities have varied but you're only there for a day so as long as there's a toilet you can make do really.

What makes the real difference is the people you work with imo. I've had excellent poll clerks and I've had ones who haven't had a bloody clue. I had one a few years ago who couldn't speak more than quite broken English who, while great he wanted to be involved in the democratic process, was not suitable for working in a polling station. The elections team at my district council are not very good so I expect a similar shit show this time around! Poor organisation and staff disengaged etc.

I work as a Presiding Officer in a village hall, it's lovely, its also busy which I enjoy. My old poll station was also a hall but always so cold and quiet. I don't do it in my home town though so it's also nice to see how other areas are. I love having the dogs and children in, the old people are some great characters too. Good poll clerks make the day so much easier though, I had some really shit ones one year, and ended up having to correct their work as they messed up the corresponding numbers list and kept tearing the ballot papers then trying to hide the evidence.

I also do the count after local elections which are held in a theatre, so bloody stuffy though. Won't be able to do that after the general though as they start the count that night.

I need to speak to my boss to see if I can get the day off as I'm supposed to be in work for a meeting, not sure if I'm actually needed for it these days as he doesn't chair it anymore so I don't need to support him.

I'm a presiding officer in a large church hall. We have 2 stations in there so July will have 8 booths and at least 6 staff. I'm hoping for more as voter id and the new postal vote acceptance procedure take more time and will be a surprise to this who don't vote at local elections

Also need at least one Nepali speaking poll clerk due to local population make up

Excellent kitchen facilities but very cold as we have to have doors open both ends to facilitate a one way system

Church is very busy on a Thursday with senior coffee morning , band practice in the afternoon and nct classes in the evening

I arrive 6:15am to set up , leave the hall by 10:30pm to deliver ballot boxes and then immediately start the count . It's a mega long day but well paid

My packing list for the day is getting ridiculous now though as includes fingerless gloves , pillow to sit on , hot water bottle and a toothbrush

I normally do postal vote opening in the run up and also deliver poll cards .

@Guiltyaboutwork yes, it is a long day. I try to get to the polling station the night before to start setting up. There is a lot to do and the more I can do the night before, the less pressure in the morning - you HAVE to be open at 7am.

I get to my polling station at 6am and by the time I’ve done the paperwork it’s gone 10.30om. Then you drive to the Count to hand everything in and that can take an hour. You can’t leave during the day, and as a Presiding Officer I’ve got to stay in the hall, I can’t go and have lunch in another room for an hour.

This year we’ll start the Count after all the polling stations (forty something of them) have got back. We might not be able to start verifying until 11.30pm or later. Then you work through until you finish. It can be a 24 hour working day, but it’s really enjoyable. I will moan about being tired though!

Schools generally take the day as INSET so not an extra day's closure.

Pretty sure ours doesn't. We have the dates of all the inset days until September 2025 and they've never changed them.

We used to have a lortakabin with a portaloo next to it as our polling station, I felt for the staff.

Then with covid restrictions they moved it to a large church hall. Which is better - if harder to find!

I’m in Scotland so schools will be closed anyway, in fact I get back from holiday the early hours of the 4th which saves me organising a postal vote at least.

I don't man the polling station but it's in our church and we have our cubs in the attached church hall at the rear. Every year without fail we have voters wandering in to our Cubs meeting, even though it is very well sign-posted that it's in the church at the front! As our motto is "Be Prepared" we usually stick a sign on the door to tell them to go to the front but that doesn't always work!

Wasn't massively busy when I did it for the Labour Things Can Only Get Better election - but I was clerking in a massive Labour stronghold and the toughest task we had was persuading people not to fold their ballot papers more than once to speed things up at the count as they were going for the record (yes, THAT constituency).

Round here they use the bar area of the local bowling club - bit chaotic for the locals as they had a bowls match running at the same time so were trying to direct the two incoming flows of traffic.

They're mostly in schools in NI and it's always an extra day off, not an inset day (although this one falls in our school holidays anyway).

I haven't done it for 20 years or so, but I realised how much things have changed when I went to vote in May.
I used to have to transport huge heavy metal ballot boxes that had to be sealed with wax. This year that had folding bags that looked a bit like picnic bags with a zip.
I used to arrive and be faced with erecting the polling booths which were made of heavy timber with hardboard flaps. These has to be dismantled at the end of the day before rushing off with the full ballot boxes.
They no longer have the marking tool to stamp all the ballot papers.
The ballot papers didn't even need to be torn out of a book!
I used to have to take a kettle, milk, teabags for all my staff, and an enormous amount of food to get me through from about 5.30am until whenever the count finished. We thought we were in heaven one year when someone bought their microwave along so we could have hit food. Another year someone got the DH to bring fish and chips. I wasn't usually near anywhere close to food.
When I voted this time, the deliveroo driver was just pulling up!

I've done elections where we've still had the heavy booths to assemble, but the ballot boxes and seals are much better!
Last year we ordered in food (game changer!) But no deliveries to our field this year lol

We are not allowed to order in food but my lovely Dh brings in bacon and sausage butties at around 10am for all of us

Biggest hassle in the local this year was sorting out warring tellers and agents who were arguing about numbers allowed outside and rosettes

You're not allowed to order food??? Why not?

I've been a polling clerk and a counter. Both are fascinating, but long days and quite exhausting! The counting can be stressful as the candidates stand in front of you (behind a screen) and eyeball you as you count or add up votes. If the numbers don't add up (total votes counted against presiding officer's calculation) and you have to recount, or if there's a call for a recount because it is very close, it's...interesting. When we had multiple choices in some towns in the LA election last year we had to add them all up in a grid, I quite enjoyed using my mental arithmetic skills, but I was paired with a really fantastic lady who'd been a maths teacher. The teenager next to us was completely baffled as to why we didn't use calculators but we felt it was good for our brains and we were just as quick.

I was also fascinated to watch another counter who must have worked in a bank or post-office because she could count the election slips in a very slick and efficient way--you could see the years of practice: her fingers just flew through the papers.

Sadly I don't think I will do it this year as my mother is in the last stages of cancer and I have a big work project on at the same time--too much other stress in my life.

@Seeline we still have the metal ballot boxes with the little handles that crush your fingers! So heavy when they’re full of equipment before the day. We have the fabric boxes for postal votes only.

we have the wooden booths that you have to battle to put up & take down.

its been years since we had to use the stamp on the papers, but we still tear them out of a book.

One year we trialled the tablets which was great, so easy to use and hard to get wrong. However, at 10pm when everyone was trying to use it for the ballot paper accounts the system crashed as everyone was using it at the same time. Plus they were very expensive.

One year I was given a polling station which had several homes for the blind within it's catchment. We had special training that year so that we could help the residents and make sure any carers followed the correct procedures.