The Nov. 5 general election is three months away, with early voting beginning Oct. 9.
To mark the upcoming election, the New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver recognized National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, Aug. 1, by putting out information about how people can become poll workers.
“Poll workers are on the frontlines of our democracy and are essential to our voting process, playing a pivotal role in the success of our elections,” Toulouse Oliver said in a press release. “My office is excited to recognize and participate in National Poll Worker Recruitment Day to help inspire civic engagement by encouraging people to sign up to serve their community. There’s no better way to learn about the voting process and I urge New Mexicans to consider working the polls in their county for the General Election this November.”
Poll worker responsibilities include, but are not limited to, setting up polling places, greeting voters, verifying voter registrations and issuing ballots.
Poll workers also help voters understand the voting process by demonstrating the use of voting equipment and explaining voting procedures.
Local election officials oversee election staff and poll workers, including providing training before Election Day.
To be a poll worker in New Mexico you must be a registered voter in your county, attend training, take an oath of office, not be a candidate, law enforcement officer or close relative of a candidate on the 2024 ballot and have basic computer skills, a cell phone and an email address.
However, teenagers aged 16 and 17 can also be poll workers, the press release said.
Election Day poll workers are compensated up to $400 for the day. County clerks set the poll workers’ wages. […]
As with poll workers, poll observers are also being recruited, including by Observe New Mexico Elections, a nonprofit organization funded through the Carter Center.
ONME held a press conference July 31 to introduce the program which is a bipartisan initiative aimed at assessing if statutory procedures are being consistently and accurately followed. The organization will also provide comprehensive public information about the quality of the 2024 election in New Mexico, Carter Center Associate Director of Democracy and Peace Program Sarah Cooper said.
“To provide a little bit more background about nonpartisan election observation, this is a crucial element in ensuring the integrity of our elections. Historically, political party representatives and media have provided much of the oversight of elections in the United States; this program proposes to mobilize impartial representatives of the public interest who will be focused on the quality of the process and not any particular election outcome,” Cooper said.
Read the full article by Nicole Maxwell, New Mexico Political Report