lol, I am sure all of us have stuff that annoys us! This can be a standing thread going forward, like “interesting threads” or “random questions.”
I have one, from my work at the polls for the NYC primary. A voter demanded a new ballot, stating that the scanner “didn’t work” and rejected her ballot. She also said she needed to get home. Because we were pretty busy then, I didn’t have time to inquire about the problem and went through the rigamarole to void her ballot and issue a new one. Three minutes later, she was back at the table, impatient and annoyed, demanding yet another ballot ASAP. I asked to look at the ballot and it turned out that she ranked the same candidate five times–not how ranked-choice voting works. The third try was the charm and my fellow worker and I got a good laugh, but really! It’s not like we’re paid for luxury customer service–$350 to work from 5am to 10pm. Sheesh!
It’s $300 in NJ (raised from $200 in 2022). My parents worked the polls every year until their death. I did it once in my 20’s, git paid about $75, it was a long day. NJ had to up it because they struggled to get workers.
Minimum wage in NYC is $16.50/hour. The translators (Spanish and Mandarin-Cantonese at my poll site) and supervisors (big job!) get the same as everyone else.
I don’t think anyone around here (at least in my town) would be swayed one way or the other by the pay being $100 or so different either way - it’s more a civic duty. One of the workers had a vest full of pins from working each election for the past 20 years or so!
We could start a whole thread about poll worker pay. Where I am, it depends on the job you do (moderators get paid the most…and the head moderator gets THE most) and your longevity doing the job.
And I always thank those poll workers for serving the town!
Either place is a world away from me, economically. I live in a small town in borderline Appalachia. I may be mistaken but I think most of the poll workers in my community are volunteers (a lot of retired people), or is that not allowed? I have some friends who do it …I’ll have to ask them, and thank them.
Here you are always paid even if you want to volunteer, I guess it’s a bit like jury duty in the sense that you’re nominally paid for your time, but it’s not what you’d actually earn in a day at a minimum wage job.
NYS jury duty pay is $40/day. And employers with more than 10 (I think) employers are required to pay the customary daily amount when workers are on jury duty.
It’s not allowed in CT. All poll workers must be paid. It’s considered an important job. Pay is at or above the minimum wage per hour for our state. No volunteers. You actually can’t be IN the polling place unless you are a paid poll worker or a voter.
OR an unofficial checker which is someone from either party who is simply listening as folks come in and marking their names off…so folks in their party can call to get others to the polls. These unofficial checkers in CT have absolutely nothing to do with the actual voting process. They are observers who must be preapproved before voting day.
That’s why my parents did it every year for 40+ years (my mom was a clerk) However, I don’t believe there are as many civic minded people today. In our town, it’s usually the same workers every year. I’ve been voting by mail since COVID, so I don’t knew if any have passed away (most are elderly). I think it’s easier to pay more than to convince people to give up a day.
NJ pays $10 an hour. That won’t buy lunch. I used to work for a company that hired hourly workers, most from urban cities, nit great pay. They got so upset that they had to give up at least a day’s pay, and it would be a financial hardship if they were put on a case.
In NYC, kids brought to polling places with their parents or whomever get a sticker that says “Future Voter.”
We have approved poll watchers who go to each station and are given the number of people in each party who already voted, but not their identities.
We had some local reporters who showed up when our city council member (who was running for comptroller after he was prevented from running again due to NYC term-limits) and his wife came in to vote. In general, nonvoters are not forbidden from coming into the poll site. We had quite a few who registered without party affiliation and couldn’t vote in this primary–just Democrats and Republicans this time. The Republicans did not have a contest for mayor; in fact they had only two races vs six or seven for the Democrats.
We take little sips and bites and meander 
I’m always happy to circle back to the main topic and OP though!