Whiteside County in need of election judges

STERLING — As Election Day gets closer, Whiteside County is in need of election judges to run its polling locations, County Clerk Dana Nelson says.

Election judges are responsible for ensuring proper and orderly voting at polling stations, with duties that include signing in registered voters, making sure only registered voters are permitted to cast a ballot and monitoring the conduct of the election. They also give assistance to voters by explaining voting procedures and the use of voting equipment. Judges are paid a stipend for their work on Election Day. In Whiteside County, they are designated as either belonging to the Democratic or Republican party.

Whiteside County residents can sign up to be an election judge by calling the County Clerk’s office at 815-772-5189. Residents can sign up in person at the office at 200 E. Knox St. in Morrison, until Nov. 4, the day before the election.

“We’ll take them any way we can get them,” Nelson said in an interview with Shaw Local News Network.

To be eligible, individuals must be a citizen of the United States; at least 16 years old on Election Day; if 18, registered to vote at the address where they reside; able to speak, read and write in English; and be “of good understanding and capable of performing the duties” required of an election judge, according to Illinois election law.

In Whiteside County, it’s also required that individuals are not a committee person within the precinct.

The county clerk only needs basic information from applicants, including a name, home address and party affiliation, Nelson said.

Election judges are paid $180 for their work on election day as long as they’ve gone through training. The training is a short class followed by a test that goes over general election laws regarding the operation of polling places, as well as basic math and reading skills, Nelson said.

“We try to make sure everyone has gone through the training,” she said.

She added that the class is only a couple of hours long and instructors go over the answers to the test during the class.

According to Illinois election law, each election precinct in a county should have five election judges. For a precinct with more than 600 registered voters, there should be an additional five election judges.

Whiteside County has 60 precincts. Of those, 32 have more than 600 registered voters, according to Whiteside County’s election results from the March 19 general primary election.

The county has a list of 378 previous election judges that they could pull from, Nelson said.

“Technically, we have enough, but really it’s never enough, because people will call off last minute,” she said.

Whiteside County needs 300 election judges in order to have five judges at each precinct. Another 160 will be needed to place an additional five election judges at the 32 precincts with more than 600 registered voters.

But even if the polling locations are short on election judges, elections still take place.

“We always find a way,” Nelson said.

If a precinct is short, it will pull from other precincts to balance out the need, she added.

On Election Day, Nov. 5, polling locations are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Election judges typically arrive earlier and stay a little later to help with setup and teardown. Based on election results from the general primary election March 19, about 15% of Whiteside County’s 36,804 registered voters cast a ballot.

For a presidential election, “there is always a much higher turnout,” Nelson said.

Whiteside County isn’t alone in the shortage, Lee County is also in need of election judges along with the state of Illinois, Lee County Clerk and Recorder Nancy Petersen said.