Los Angeles County really needs poll workers to work at the polls on Election Day. It is a worthwhile job; you can learn how elections are conducted and will have a hands-on experience helping voters. The long day begins at 6:00 a.m. when poll workers must be at the polling place to set up, assist voters to sign in, and issue ballots. The day ends by 9 pm, after closing the polls, accounting for each ballot, and packing up all supplies. The pay is $105, (which includes a $25 stipend for the training session.) This year the County is offering a $75 bonus to poll workers who work all 3 CA elections (Feb, June, November).

The first thing you should do is call the Los Angeles Registrar’s office (800 815-2666 option 7) to be assigned a precinct. Then you must arrange to take the L.A. County poll worker training. There are many convenient locations county-wide. Training is available seven days a week, prior to every election. To find training near you click the link below.

Click Here (opens as a PDF in a new window)
The L.A. Election Protection Task Force needs as many poll workers as possible to be our eyes and ears on the ground. If you are interested, you are more than welcome to participate in our poll monitor training, to learn about the problems that may occur on Election Day.

Please plan to fill out ELECTION INCIDENT REPORTS to provide feed back about your experiences at the poll. These REPORTS can be found on the DOWNLOADABLE DOCS page, for you to print out and take with you.

If you are a pollworker, please join the LA Election Protection Task Force (fill out and send in the form). We will put you on our mailing list and send you any new information as it becomes available. (Such as phone numbers to report problems, etc.)

There is a national organization called Pollworkers for Democracy. We recommend a trip to their website; they have a wealth of information to offer pollworkers.

pollworkersfordemocracy.org (opens in a new window)

This effort is to observe and document evidence of any problems and, when possible, to quietly help voters with those problems. Poll monitors keep written records on ELECTION INCIDENT REPORTS where they briefly describe problems they witness, including: issues with voter registration, ballot issues, machines, poll workers, intimidation, access, language, etc.

These reports are crucial evidence in the effort to improve our election process. When we put hundreds of reports together, we find patterns of election problems which can then be addressed.

You can monitor all day long, or for as little as three hours. You can monitor a polling place in your own neighborhood, or monitor several polling places anywhere in Los Angeles County. (We have suggestions for precincts that should be monitored, where machine breakdown and voter suppression are more likely to happen.) We recommend monitoring in teams of two, so bring a friend.

Most people vote early in the morning, or after 4 pm, so the best times to monitor are: 7:00-10:00 am and 4:30-8PM.

Note that you are part of a nonpartisan election protection effort. Therefore you cannot wear campaign materials or discuss any ballot measures or candidates as part of this effort.

You are allowed to use video, audio, cell phone cameras, and still cameras inside the poll, as long as those recorded grant permission. You are not allowed to interfere with the voter casting his vote:

	Do not stand directly behind the voter while he/she is voting.
	Do not stand between the official table and the voter.
	Do not discuss voting choices with the voter even if he/she asks you.

What to bring with you to the polling place:

	Cell phone, with your car charger and wall charger
	Pen or pencil, and either a notebook or clipboard with paper
	A small audio recorder, camera or video camera; consider buying a disposable camera
	Thomas guide, contact #’s, water, snack, money, jacket, hat and other items for a long day
	What to watch for doc. (download from this site)
	Many copies of the Election Incident report. (download from this site.)

If you are going to be in a neighborhood where Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese are the principle spoken languages, please. Go to our DOWNLOADS PAGE for complaint forms in these languages.

Please turn in your incident report within 24 hours after the election, via:

Fax: (818) 769-4542

Or scan/email to:

workthevote@gmail.com

Please mail your hard copy to :

Wake Up and Save Your Country

P.O. Box 369

11664 National Blvd.

Los Angeles, CA 90064

We will then compile these reports and send them to our election officials, election lawyers, the office of the Registrar, the LA County Board of Supervisors, to the Secretary of State, and, if need be, to the media.

We plan to hold a public town hall meeting 7-10 days after the election, where voters, poll workers, and poll monitors will be able to describe their experiences and create a record for the media and the public about the problems and successes of our election process. The date of this meeting will be posted on:

We will hold training sessions for poll monitoring via conference calls on the weekend before the election. If you join the Election Protection Task Force, (click here to join), we will email you the training times and dates.


For Video the Vote information, go to videothevote.org. It is a national campaign, and of great importance. You can upload all of your Election Day videos at videothevote.org to get them posted on the national site.

Video the Vote videos have been responsible for arrests as well as changes in election procedures, and help show what really happens on Election Day in our country. It is one more form of transparency, which is the only way to attain truly democratic elections. If you are planning to carry a video camera on Election Day and have further questions please email matthew@cotam.org

Please read the guidelines for poll monitoring because they apply equally to Video the Vote. You will want to bring the same tools and learn the same ground rules. Essentially you are a poll monitor recording incidents with a camera, instead of with a pen.

It is a good idea to take incident reports with you, as a back up.


Election activities begin several weeks before Election Day, Nov. 4, 2008 at LA County election headquarters in Norwalk, 12400 Imperial Highway. We need observers to oversee the entire election process: the absentee ballots go through a computerized signature-matching machine and a precinct sorting process; these ballots are then stored until Nov. 4th when they are counted at 7:00 am; the “random” selection of the precincts for the mandated 1% manual tally occurs on Nov.5; and the manual tally begins a few days later and continues until completed.

These processes must be completed within the 29-day canvas period (by which time all ballots must be counted) in order to certify the election results. During this time the provisional ballots are also “remade” and counted. The voter verified paper audit trails, VVPAT, are also counted.

It is important that our election officials know that the public is watching each step, and that it is important to our citizens that each part of the election process be done carefully and correctly. The more the public learns about and watches over each part of the election process, the more transparent the election becomes.

Observers will have simple guidelines for observing and keeping a record of these processes. Poll workers and monitors may also observe these events before and after Election Day. If you wish to be an observer at election headquarters send an email to: info@protectcaliforniaballots.org