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BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP — Many snow birds have headed to warmer climates for the winter, which is creating a hurdle for many local clerks who are looking for election inspectors.
Bloomfield Township Deputy City Clerk Deana Mondock said the township is in dire need of election workers for the Feb. 27 presidential primary.
“We’re always in need of workers, but especially in the presidential years, just because we have a heavier volume of people going through the precincts, and especially with all our snowbirds, February is usually a really tough month, not only for us, but every municipality that I’ve talked to is also in the same boat,” she said.
The township typically hires 100 election workers to handle precinct election duties for a presidential cycle, with a team of about six people assigned to cover each of the township’s 18 precincts.
“Then, we have an absentee voter counting board, which processes all the ballots that come in by mail or in person into our office. Now, we have early tabulation of absentee voter ballots, so we are trying to get 25 people a day to work that, so we’re going to need about 100 people for that board, plus 100 in the precincts, so we are going to need a little over 200 people this election,” Mondock explained.
Township officials are hoping community members will step up to assist this year to make sure precincts and absentee counting boards are adequately staffed.
Township Clerk Martin Brook said elections rely on local people being involved.
“In our township, roughly 200 people are tasked to work in precincts and the absentee ballot counting board each election,” he said. “This is the hardest one to staff, because a lot of our Bloomfielders are out of town at this time, so we are struggling a little bit, but we’re hopeful we will get who we need.”
Inspectors will be stationed at one of 18 precincts throughout Bloomfield Township and will be responsible for confirming the voter’s identity, checking them in, and issuing them a ballot. Election workers can choose to work at four different stations in a precinct.
“Station one is your meet and greet station. It’s where the voter gets the application to vote and fills it out and hands it back to that person with their driver’s license. Station one compares the name on the driver’s license with the name on the application to vote, and then they hand that information to station two. Station two is the laptop, and the voter is looked up on the laptop, the address on the application to vote is compared to what we have in the laptop information. If everything looks good, they are issued a ballot at station three and then they take their ballot to a voting booth, they vote and then they go to station four, and there is a person at the tabulator that will help them if they need assistance inserting their ballot,” Mondock said.
Election inspectors must be at least 18 years old and be a qualified and registered elector of the state of Michigan. Inspectors do not need to be a township resident, but in order to be considered, they cannot have a felony conviction on their record.
“We are always recruiting new people, and training is provided,” said Brook. “We welcome new people all the time who are curious about how elections run or who just want to help out.”
Those who meet these requirements and are interested can download the election inspector application at www.bloomfieldtwp.org and email it to clerk@bloomfieldtownship.org.
By serving as an election inspector, residents can serve their community and earn extra income. Pay starts at $200 a day, 6 a.m.-9 p.m., and paid training is provided. Teens ages 16-17 can also work as precinct inspectors with parental or guardian permission. This role qualifies as community service credit that can be applied to school records and/or transcripts.
For more information, call (248) 433-7702.
