Sedgwick County is looking to hire more than 200 election workers ahead of the Aug. 4 primary election.
Election workers guide voters through the voting process, including checking them in and showing them how to use the voting machines. They are required to be available on Election Day from 5:45 a.m. to 9 p.m. or until all closing work has been completed.
Poll workers are paid $8.50 per hour.
Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Laura Rainwater said she first became an election worker in 2020, and the experience gave her an “overwhelming sense of pride.”
“I got home that night thoroughly exhausted, and I turn on the TV to watch the election results roll in, and I literally got chills that I participated in our democracy, because it is truly the foundation of our country,” Rainwater said.
“Without voting, we wouldn’t have the type of government we have, but we can’t make voting happen without election workers.”
Applicants must be registered voters in Sedgwick County, or 16- or 17-year-olds who are eligible to vote aside from their age. They also must attend a training session. The sessions are being held from June 29 to July 18, ahead of the start of early voting.
Election judges oversee the work done at polling places and undergo special training. Supervising election judges are paid $11 per hour.
New election workers will help staff 10 new polling places, created to reduce high voter traffic at some locations. Rainwater said the planning for these additions has been in the works for more than a year.
Each polling location typically has six election workers and two judges. If the county can’t hire enough workers to meet these numbers, Rainwater said workers will be spread out across all sites.
“We’re not going to close any site, but there will be fewer election workers, and it’s hard on them when a site is understaffed, and it’s hard on voters because they have to stand in line longer,” Rainwater said.
The county has also started accepting applications for election workers for the Nov. 3 general election, where voter turnout is expected to be much higher than the primary, Rainwater added.
Applications can be found on the Sedgwick County website.
