Poll Worker Experience and Polling Place Operations

Datos Bibliográficos

ID12761818
AutoresJoshua D Hostetter (0000-0002-5785-0626, Citadel, autor de correspondencia), Lonna Rae Atkeson (0000-0002-5388-7325, Florida State University)
Año2025
Volumen54
Número1
Páginas52-64
Fecha de publicación2025-09-25
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Politics Research (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1532-673X • E-ISSN: 1552-3373
EditorialSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1532673x251382560
OpenAlexW4414524679
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas23

Poll workers are street-level bureaucrats who implement policy with limited direct oversight. We ask an important theoretical and practical question: Do experienced and inexperienced poll workers vary systematically in how they operate polling sites? We build on previous work by examining how poll worker training and experience influence their preparedness to operate polling sites and whether more experience leads to better polling place operations. We use a national poll worker survey from the 2022 midterm election to examine how experience relates to job behavior. We find that experienced poll workers are more likely to self-report that training prepared them to work the election. At the same time, poll worker experience leads to more conflicts with poll watchers and voters, and reported difficulties with voting machines. These increased conflicts may be a function of the increased number of duties experienced poll workers have compared to inexperienced ones

Function (biology · Opinion poll · Polling · Preparedness · Voting · Work (physics · Aviation Industry Analysis and Trends · Economic and Environmental Valuation · Psychology of Social Influence