I just completed my third time as an election official. For all you folks out there who are 18 (US citizens of course) and registered to vote, contact your local voting registration office and sign up to be an election official for the upcoming elections. They train you (you get paid for the training time) and try to assign you to the precinct you vote in. I got paid for the day (today) and because I took the machine counter to the collection point, I get an extra $15. I'll spare the patriotic routine and tell you that it really gives you an insight and different perception of the election process. Don't worry, you don't have to count "chads".

Nox

Edit: I read the post wrong. I don't know how to go about being an election official, though.

[This message has been edited by malaria (edited 09-08-2002).]

How much do you get paid?

You get paid with depression. I worked for the census in 2000 and afterward I felt like crying.

$135.

And it is nothing like the census. Lokil, I would rather cut my throat than do the census.

For details, call your local election office. It's in the phone book under state elections.

Nox

From what I have seen in several districts, you must be a wrinkeled old woman to be and election offical.

You're not a wrinkled old woman, are you Nox?

Hmm. Once again I find myself opposite of the majority.

I've worked both as an election official [fall of 1997, I think it was], and I was a census taker [for the 1990 census].

I didn't like the election work, and the census job was just way too cool.

Of course it could have been my individual experience in each was 180 degrees from your experience[s].

The election job paid ok [especially if you're unemployed]. I don't recall exactly how much, but let's say that it too was $135.00. For that money I got there an hour early [not just being conscientious; I wasn't sure were I was going and knowing how AC transit - the bus system - is, well an hour was just barely within a safe margin of time]; it took forever for the old farts I was working with to wrap things up [consider my age: when I call someone an 'old fart' they're really an old fart ;-) ]. And to top it off, I volunteered to go with the lady to turn in the ballots; not really for the extra money - which I don't remember if they paid me for or not - but because she said she would drive me home afterwards. Had to be quicker than the bus I figured.

Not: I didn't get home until just minutes before 11:00pm! That's close to 15 hours.

I'm sorry, but $135 ain't worth 15 hours of boredom: I make a considerable chunk of change more than that at my present job: And if that goes over 8 hours, I get time-and-a-half.

Now the census, on the other hand, was one of those jobs you just dream of having; I would even give some thought to taking such a job again, but only if it was a permanent thing. It was only $10/hr., but it was such a bitchen job.

I have to admit, though, that I wasn't a regular census taker - that would have blown chunks as Lokil knows.

See, I came in on the tail end of the census. It was my job to be a final check of things. Each morning I went in selected a route, or area, or whatever it was called - I picked up a list of address in a certain area. These were ones that previous census takers had listed as either being a business, not existing or, for some reason or another, they were unable to take the census. What I had to do was verify or correct the information. And if the address was a place that needed a census taken, I did it.

Knowing Oakland as well as I did [I had been most parts at one time or another when I was a mortician], I was able to find the address pretty quick, and only about 20% were other than what was on the sheet. Of that 20% only about 20% of that [which was about 4% of the total] were places that needed to have the census taken. Once I finished the address on the sheet I went back to the HQ, turned in my paperwork, got my timecard signed and went home for the day.

I got a friend to give a hand, I drove while he looked for addresses. It got to where I could do my route in under 2 hours. So most days I would go to HQ in the morning, get my assignment, then go back home and sleep a few more hours. When my friend arrived, out we'd go - stoned as hell, I might add. Two hours later I had it all turned and was back home. Killer.

Did I mention that I got paid for a full 8 hours no matter what? So I made $80 for less than 2 hours actual work.

I bet even you, Lokil, wouldn't have hated working for the census if you had that job, eh?

quote:

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Originally posted by Prometheus:
You're not a wrinkled old woman, are you Nox?

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No...........x

Wow thanks! Im now gonna quit designing web sites and become a election official or whatever right now!

Thank you so much!

Metaphysicist, they should make a video game like that! It'd would be like crazy taxi, hehehe