In Lynchburg, this is a paid position ($120 to $150/election day). Officials verify that potential voters are properly registered, hand out the official ballots, and ensure that each vote is properly counted. Election officials are also known as “election judges” in other communities.

 

This important position is on the front lines of ensuring that our community has the integrity necessary for an honest and accurate election result. The law has several requirements, to serve in this capacity:
 

1. Must be a registered voter within the state of Virginia. 

2. Must be physically capable of serving the whole day without leaving the precinct (can be 16 hours)

3. The law also requires that at between 33% to 50% of the total number of people serving in these roles are affiliated with the Republican Party.
    

The majority of election officials serve on Election Day in the 18 precincts around Lynchburg and at the “CAP” location at the registrar’s office (19 total locations). This position begins at 4:45 AM and ends after the polls close and all the votes have been properly counted, reported, packed up, and two people (one being a Republican) from each precinct helps drive the physical votes to the registrar’s office (usually around 9:30 PM, but this end time can vary significantly).

While it is a long day, the sacrifice of each volunteer is a small price to pay to ensure that our election process is run fairly and honestly.

In addition, there also are election officials needed to process absentee ballots in the three weeks leading up to the election at the registrar’s office. This process is usually a 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM shift Mondays through Friday and 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturdays. Only three or four people are needed for this role. It does take a short, simple extra training to know how to process and double check the envelopes to ensure that only valid votes are counted.

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In Virginia, election officials are usually needed on the following dates:

1. The first Tuesday in June for party primary elections

2. The first Tuesday in November for the general election

3. And 1-3 weeks leading up to each of the above elections to process absentee ballots.
 

If you would like to serve please click the link below to connect with the Lynchburg Registrar's office:

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Then let us know by emailing LynchburgRepublicanCC@gmail.com with the following details and that you would like to serve as an Election Official:
 

1.       Legal name as registered to vote in Virginia

a.       If different, please also include your preferred name

2.       Phone number

3.       Email address

4.       Physical Address

5.       Which days you are available to volunteering

6.       If you have any previous experience (which is not required)
 

Once we learn of your interest and verify your registration status, we will add your name to our list of available Republican election officials. This list is provided annually to the registrar by January 20th for each year, however, if that deadline has already passed, we encourage you to still reach out to us because there are usually openings as late as August that we are still trying to fill each year.

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If you are unable to commit to the full day for health or other reasons, we encourage you to consider volunteering as a Poll Watcher. That is an unpaid volunteer role also inside the precinct verifying proper procedures but it is broken into three shifts on Election Day or during the absentee ballot processing leading up to Election Day.  Learn more by contacting us.

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