MADISON COUNTY, ALABAMA, Ala. — Every election, poll workers spend hours making sure voting is a breeze. They are trusted with your ballot and voting information, but have you ever wondered how to become one or what exactly they do?
RELATED: Absentee Ballot Office now open
For the general election in Madison County, around 1,000 poll workers will be on the front lines making sure your vote is counted.
Madison County Probate Judge, Frank Barger, said, "We could not facilitate or administer an election without them, and we're certainly grateful for them."
Poll workers work long days. They typically work up to 15 hours on election day, and they must go through in depth training before each election.
"Madison County does have a history of kind of going above and beyond on required training," said Barger. "As an example, last fall we held an 8 hour, day long training session for all of our inspectors and our current workers to prepare them for this cycle."
In Madison County, election workers are paid to go through training. For the day of the election, poll workers typically get $150 and inspectors get $200 dollars. This year, because of the pandemic, each poll worker will get an additional fifty dollars.
"It might seem like a lot to get paid $200 or $250 for a day of work, but by the time they spend several hours in training, keep in mind polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. They work a couple of hours outside of that range. They do a whole lot of work for not a whole lot," said Barger.
To become a poll worker, you must be at least 18 years old and be a registered voter. Click here for the application.
Check out our full election guide here.