Poll workers, especially those who are bilingual in any one of six specific languages, are needed for the June 5 Gubernatorial Primary Election.

The Registrar’s office is required by federal law to provide bilingual speakers and voting materials to voters who speak Spanish, Filipino, Vietnamese and Chinese. In addition, a survey conducted by the University of California, Berkeley showed a need for speakers of Arabic and Korean at just under 90 precincts across the county so the Registrar’s office is also recruiting poll workers who are bilingual in those languages.

The Registrar’s office needs over 6,000 poll workers for the next Gubernatorial Primary Election, and at least 1,450 poll workers that are bilingual in Spanish.

“We are hoping that individuals that have participated in a previous election or are been always interested in participating or volunteering in their communities, apply to be a poll worker,” said San Diego County Registrar of Voters Michael Vu to La Prensa San Diego. “The training will be provided for them to be a poll worker.”

To become a poll worker, applicants must be a U.S. citizen and registered to vote in California, or lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States.

Poll workers must have transportation to their assigned polling location, access to the internet to take an online training and attend a two-hour class in person.

Poll workers receive a stipend ranging from $100 to $175 depending on the assignment, and those who are bilingual receive an additional $15 if they are assigned to provide language assistance to voters.

“A lot of the poll workers are college and even high school students, and people that come from the community to participate,” Vu said.

Poll workers serve from 5:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. on Election Day. People can apply online at sdvote.com. For more information, people can call (858) 565-5800 or email pollworker@sdcounty.ca.gov.

There will be a total of 1,444 precincts in San Diego County on the Gubernatorial Primary Election that includes the election of the next State Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, the 36, 38, and 40 State Senate districts, and all the State Assembly seats.

There are approximately 170 different candidates and 5 statewide propositions and four local measures to vote on.
In San Diego County, there are over 1.67 million people registered to vote, and more than a million are registered as a mail voter.

“We have the largest number of registered voters and the largest number of mail voters we have ever had,” Vu added.
Starting on May 7, registered voters can vote early at the Registrar’s office located at 5600 Overland Avenue, Suite 100 in San Diego, California, 92123.