Best Practices in Recruiting, Retaining, and Training Poll Workers
Conflict Resolution Traffic Light
With the dramatic increase in mistrust of election officials and more frequent harassment of staff and poll workers, the Leon County elections office identified a need to provide additional resources for election workers. Staff developed a one-page "conflict resolution traffic light" to provide key information to poll workers and short-term staff on how to differentiate legitimate voter inquiries from harassment and how to respond to each situation. While full-time staff have more extensive training on this subject, most voter interactions are with poll workers. Because the time to train poll workers is limited, the elections office sought to develop a document providing information in a compact and easily digestible format. The traffic light approach seeks to balance providing outstanding voter services while empowering staff to disengage from harassment, security threats, or disruption. Officials have found it to be a valuable resource for training staff who work in an increasingly challenging environment.
