The Maricopa Community Colleges Center for Civic Participation has been awarded a $17,486 grant by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to recruit college students to work at the polls in this year's primary and general elections. The Commission's Help America Vote College Program encourages college students to assist state and local governments in the administration of elections by serving as nonpartisan election judges, poll workers or assistants.
According to Alberto Olivas, director of voter education and outreach programs at the Maricopa Community Colleges Center for Civic Participation, student poll workers will earn $115 for attending a short training session, setting up the poll site the day before the election, and working at the polling place the day of the election.
In addition, some faculty may be interested in offering Service Learning hours for participation if it connects with their class curriculum. The project will be managed by the Center for Civic Participation, a program of the Maricopa Community Colleges, and implemented by key faculty and staff at each of the colleges targeted for this effort. Roselyn Turner, communication faculty at Estrella Mountain will be the campus contact. She can be reached at 623.935.8454, or by e-mail, [email protected]
Karen Osborn, director of the Maricopa County Election Department, said the Maricopa Community Colleges' program will help the county meet its need for trained poll workers.
These part-time election board workers are responsible for the general supervision of the polling places, checking in and verifying voters, handling provisional ballots, overseeing voting machines, and providing assistance to voters.
Until recently, Arizona law required that election workers be registered voters, meaning that poll workers had to be at least 18 years old and U.S. citizens. During the last legislative session, however, lawmakers passed a new law, lowering the age of eligibility to work at the polls to sixteen.
This fall's primary and general elections will be the first in Arizona in which every polling place will have electronic touch-screen voting machines to assist the disabled. This new technology in polling places creates a special need for poll workers that have some technology skills.
College students, who generally have more knowledge and experience with computers than the population as a whole, can be especially helpful in providing technical assistance with operating electronic touch-screen voting machines.
More than 250,000 students attend the Maricopa Community Colleges' ten colleges and two skill centers each year, making the college system a good source for student poll workers.
Estrella Mountain Community College is located on Thomas and Dysart Roads in Avondale and offers transfer-ready academic courses and job-specific occupational training to approximately 13,000 students annually. Estrella Mountain is part of the Maricopa County Community College District, one of the largest community college districts in the nation. For more information visit www.estrellamountain.edu or www.maricopa.edu .