The Quantities and Qualities of Poll Workers

Abstract Successful election administration depends on an army of poll workers who are responsible for front line interaction with voters at the polling place. Despite their important role in elections, we know surprisingly little about how recruitment and training of poll workers translates into performance. We review research on poll workers and present descriptive information about poll worker characteristics, recruitment, training, and evaluation. We suggest that widespread concern about the quantity of poll workers has distracted from examining the quality of poll workers. More systematic evaluation is necessary to understand how various inputs affect poll worker performance.