We’ve got a primary election coming up on June 11 for the Greenville City Council At-Large seat currently held by George Fletcher. Two candidates – Dorothy Dowe and Lindsey Jacobs – are vying to be the Democratic Party nominee to contest this seat in November.

The City of Greenville is one of only a handful of municipalities in the state that hold partisan elections.  Local political parties are responsible for putting on municipal primaries, so the GCDP will provide the manpower and the funds for the June election.

Polling sites across the city will be staffed with volunteer poll workers, and for that, we need you.  In fact, we’ll need roughly 100 of you during the course of the day.

Here’s the skinny:

• Primary Election Day starts with setting up polling sites around 6:30 AM and ends with shutting down when the polls close, running the tapes of the vote count, and getting the voting machines back to the Election Commission office around 7:30-8 PM.
• We hope that a number volunteers will be able to work all day, but we’ll also schedule for two shifts: 6:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.  The GCDP will provide lunch.
• You will receive training from the Election Commission during the week before the primary.  Multiple training days and times have been scheduled to accommodate all of our volunteers. The training lasts approximately 1½  hours.
• The GCDP is hiring an experienced poll clerk for each of the polling places to provide guidance and support throughout the day.
• You can be a poll worker if you are 16+ but only one worker under 18 at a time will be assigned at a polling place.

Being a volunteer poll worker for this important primary election is a fairly unique opportunity to experience democracy in action firsthand, understand how the voting process works from the inside, and play a key role in ensuring that everyone who is duly registered is able to cast his or her vote.  Not only will you help your beloved GCDP fulfill a critical political responsibility, but you will also increase your confidence if you want to be a poll worker or poll watcher in the 2019 or 2020 general elections. And you’ll probably have fun along the way.

In order to ensure that everyone gets trained, we need to have our spots filled by May 29. If you are willing to help or if you have questions about your responsibilities, please contact Volunteer Coordinator Paul Merlo ASAP.