Gallagher has been working at the polls for at least 12 years. She was inspired by her mother, a long-time poll worker who called Election Day the “most fun day of the year.�

Gallagher said that, sometimes, voters claim there’s election fraud, but she doesn’t see how there could be in Kanawha County.

“In this county,� she said, “we cannot say that people voted more than once.�

Poll worker training

Gallagher and about 20 other poll workers were on hand Friday morning at the Schoenbaum Family Enrichment Center, off Patrick Street, to get their required poll worker training before the 2024 primary election. The election will be held May 14, with early voting starting Wednesday, May 1.

Poll workers are paid $60 for the class, which lasts about an hour and a half. They are paid $200 for working the poll on Election Day.

The class, one of 25 scheduled for before the primary, was taught by Greg Jones, Kanawha County election supervisor. There are about 1,000 poll workers in Kanawha County for this election.

Jones walked class attendees through a 56-page manual provided by the county. He also used videos provided by the Secretary of State’s Office.

Several of the participants were first-time poll workers. Jones fielded questions from the new workers about the process and questions from the returning workers about scenarios they’ve experienced. Multiple questions were asked about people who want to vote out of their precinct or even out of state.

Jones instructed the workers to call the County Clerk’s Office with any issues. Voters with incorrect identification or who refuse to go to the correct precinct can vote on a provisional ballot that is not counted until the county commissioners determine if it is legal. Poll workers were told to never turn a voter away at any precinct.

Identification rules may be found at bit.ly/WVVoterID.

Poll worker duties

There are five to seven poll workers at a precinct. Each has a role: clerk or commissioner.

Clerks are responsible for checking in voters and finding them in the poll book. Voters who already voted absentee or with early voting will have an “A� by their name in the book.

Clerks may call the County Clerk’s Office to find the correct precinct for someone if they show up to vote at the wrong place — a likely scenario following redistricting.

Find your precinct and sample ballot on the Secretary of State’s Office website: bit.ly/SampleBallotWVMay24.

Commissioners are responsible for pulling up the correct ballot on the voting machine and helping people feed their ballot into the tabulator. The ballots are collected in a blue ballot box locked in the bottom of each tabulator. Only one set of keys is given to each precinct.

In Kanawha County, voting hardware is provided by Election Systems & Software of Omaha, Nebraska.

Day in the life of a poll workerFor all poll workers, the day starts at 5:30 a.m. with setup at their precinct. The vote tabulator will automatically print off a statement showing zero votes are in the system. At 6:30 a.m., one poll worker is required to announce outside that the polls are open.

Polls close at 7:30 p.m. Starting with the last person in line, everyone still in line is given a numbered slip. No one without a slip is allowed to vote past 7:30 p.m.

After everyone has voted, poll workers turn off their machines and sign a statement of ballots, which shows the number of:

• Blank ballots submitted
• Ballots cast for each political party
• Provisional ballots cast
• Voided ballots
• Unused ballots

Field workers from the clerk’s office will arrive at each precinct to take a data flash drive from the tabulator machine and return it to the Voter Registration Office on Quarrier Street, where the data is compiled. The locked ballot box, data bag and other items are delivered to county clerk workers.

Different-party poll workersThere are several checks and balances worked into the Kanawha County voting system.

One is that poll workers are affiliated with different political parties. The people who drive election materials back to the office also are from different political parties.

Gallagher said she’s never had issues working with people from a different party.

“We all understand that you have election workers from more than one party to maintain the integrity,� she said. “There’s no allegations that ‘Well, they just [changed] ballots and voted them this way.’�

Gallagher said she enjoys telling people, especially children accompanying their parents, to watch the number on the tabulator increase when they deposit their ballot. She tries to make sure people are happy they came to vote.

“It’s just two days in two years,� she said. “I owe that to my country.�