From left, Newton Election Supervisor John Doyle and City Clerk Carol Moore stand next to a voting machine, or ImageCast Tabulator, where voters insert ballots. City Hall election staff test the machines before every election. (photo: Julie M. Cohen)
Election workers keep democracy working
By Julie M. Cohen on September 3, 2023
Even though he can’t vote yet, 17-year-old Alan Cai knew from a young age he wanted to be involved in politics. After becoming a Newton poll worker, he said the experience “left me really inspired … to participate in our democratic process.” Without people like Cai and others across the country who make sure voting runs smoothly in every district, our democracy could not function. In fact, the City must continuously search for people to work at the polls to ensure every registered voter who wants to participate can do so.
Like Cai, resident Elaine Woo said, “I wanted to do my bit” for the community and became a poll warden seven years ago after she retired from being a doctor. “It just seemed like it was time for greater involvement.” Aside from wanting to give back, Woo also felt compelled to work at the polls in 2016, due to the high-stakes presidential election between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. Although “we’re in a blue town in a blue state, … there are no small elections – every single one counts,” she emphasized. Before every election, she and her colleagues go through training, and “people take it very, very seriously,” said Woo.
At the end of Election Day, when they’re reconciling the ballots, she said, “We have to be accountable for every single one.” Cai, an incoming high school senior, said he’s learned a lot during his two election experiences and values talking with colleagues who hold different political views. “Many people in the world don’t have the same freedoms that we do [in the U.S.],” he said. Cai knows the importance of democratic institutions from his own family history: His parents are from China, and his mother participated in the 1989 Tiananmen Square student protests. As the vice chairman of the High School Democrats of Massachusetts and a young political journalist, Cai is looking forward to working during the November 2023 election and making sure youth voices are heard.
Keeping voting on track
During elections, residents insert their ballots into ImageCast Tabulators (voting machines). City Hall election staff test the machines before every election. (photo: Julie M. Cohen)
“I am always looking for poll workers,” said City Clerk Carol Moore recently while standing next to an ImageCast Tabulator – a voting machine – at City Hall. Historically, Newton has high voter turnout, which makes it critical to have enough poll workers. “We always strive for five positions staffed at each location. With the hours being from 6AM- 9PM, we only require the wardens to be in attendance all day; clerks and inspectors can do half-day shifts,” she said. “With multiple shifts, we could need upwards of 275 election workers.” Although the City has a list of 300 potential workers, “this is always changing as people move, or can’t do it anymore,” Moore said. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of July 2022, Newton had a population of 87,381. Out of the city’s residents, there are 59,175 registered voters, she said. During the November 2022 election, 56,899 registered voters cast their ballots, according to Moore.
Poll workers not only help with in-person voting on Election Day; they also help with administrative tasks and process voting applications and ballots that have been mailed back to City Hall. Moore said that pay is now hourly, rather than a stipend. During the November 2022 election, Moore said 44.5 percent of the registered voters who participated did so by mail, 10 percent participated in person for early voting, and 46.8 percent came in person to the polls on Election Day. If Newton is ever short on workers, Moore will reach out to other towns and cities for assistance. For the March override special election, she knew ahead of time there would be a shortage, so she asked people from Brookline, Needham, and Watertown to help. Moore also has the power to appoint City staff to fill empty slots, as she did during the September 2022 state primary.
There are enough workers to cover the upcoming September 12 municipal primary, which is only for voters in Wards 2 and 6. However, with the November 7 municipal election coming up, she is hopeful even more people will apply. The City’s website provides information about becoming an election worker and a link to the forms for applying.
Voting by Mail
Learn more about the journey of your ballot when you vote by mail:
Voters fill out a vote-by-mail application , which were also mailed out to registered voters at the beginning of the year.
For each application filed, election workers will send a voter three items together in the mail: the ballot itself, an early ballot envelope that the voter seals after filling out the ballot and placing it inside, and a white mailing envelope to return the sealed ballot to City Hall.
Voters have until Election Day to return their ballots, although the majority come in before that. Residents can send them by mail, or put them in the ballot drop box outside of City Hall, or deliver them to the City Clerk’s office inside City Hall.
When a ballot arrives at City Hall, election workers time-stamp the envelope to record when it arrived.
Election workers take each sealed early ballot envelope out of its white mailing envelope and process it and securely store it – still sealed – until Election Day.
On Election Day, a police officer escorts the secured ballots and tabulators to each polling location, where votes will be counted after the polls close at 8PM.
Voters seal their ballots inside the early ballot envelope (right), which is then placed in the mailing envelope (left) and sent to City Hall. (photo: Julie M. Cohen)
