HOLLISTER
The county hosted a two-day training session for poll workers at the Veterans Memorial Building this week to ensure things run smoothly on Election Day.
The training sessions ran for a total of four hours split over two days. The first one Tuesday was a three-hour presentation on everything that will be happening at the polling places – conducted by Assistant Clerk Recorder Lillian Perreira – followed by Wednesday’s hands-on class.
About 20 inspectors and assistant inspectors attended the hands-on class on set-up, take down and how to operate the county’s voting touch screen units. The touch screen units are just for meeting specific needs, according to Help Americans Vote Act, or HAVA. These machines will be used primarily by persons with a disability or those who need assistance, while the optical scan machine is the main system used for all other voters.
Poll worker Anthony Mattos, 20, who’s in charge of the touch screen machine at his precinct, said the touch screens are easy to handle. This is his third election, and said he’s confident in operating the machine.
“It’s very simple, its very self explanatory, very easy to set up, very useful,” said Mattos.
Keith Weyrauch, meanwhile, is working his fourth election as a volunteer. In his prior experiences with the touch screen voting units, he said he didn’t have “any problems with them.”
But even with the machines being easy to operate and set up, there is always a need to further educate volunteers, election officials said. Perreira said the county “needs to have training for new poll workers to train and refresh” experienced workers. The high level of importance placed on repeat training is because they “could have a new procedure” with which to deal, Perreira said.
Volunteering to work at a polling place is an important for both Mattos and Weyrauch.
Mattos takes pride in working the polls, he said, “because you’re serving your country – it’s your right.
“The fact that we’re in this election now, with all the dynamics in the election, it makes it better because the fact that we’re doing this for our country and for change.”
Weyrauch agrees and enjoys being part of the election process.
“I like to be part of the process. This is the grassroots level of the whole election system. I think that this gives people the opportunity to actually participate in the process. If it weren’t for poll workers, everybody would be mailing theirs in.”
