Wise seeks residents willing to serve as 2018 election judges
Ozark County Clerk Brian Wise is seeking election judges to serve in upcoming elections in April and August. He likes to find “people who care about the process and believe in elections.” After all, he said, “the judges’ faces are the first people voters see when they come to the polling place, so we want our election judges to be good representatives of our county.”
To be eligible to serve as an election judge, the person must be a registered voter and must declare a party – that’s a sticking point for some residents. Wise said he often has a hard time finding judges willing to declare their party affiliation.
He prefers to hire judges who live in the township where they will be working in the polling place because the job requires long hours – usually from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Judges are typically paid $110 as a regular judge or $120 as a supervisor. There’s no lunch break, so judges must bring their own food. Wise said in some precincts, the judges bring potluck offerings to share throughout the day. The job involves checking state-mandated photo IDs and voting registration rolls, handing out ballots and helping voters understand the procedure. The supervising judges then bring the voting machine boxes to the county clerk’s office after polls close. For more information, call Wise at 679-3516.