Clerks who are seeking to train chief inspectors and poll workers in the short period of time before the April 7, 2020 Spring Election and Presidential Preference Primary have a variety of topical online and updated training resources available to them. We suggest clerks train their election workers using the online training resources detailed in this communication based on the tasks they will be performing at the polls on Election Day.
Training Requirements
- Chief Inspectors: New chief inspectors are required by law to take the Baseline Chief Inspector training class (Baseline CIT) before their first election to be certified to conduct elections in the current term.
Chief inspectors are required to be qualified electors of their municipality unless a qualified chief inspector is not available, in which case clerks can seek and appoint a chief inspector from anywhere in their county.
- Poll Workers and Election Registration Officials (EROs): State law requires the municipal clerk to provide some type of election training for election inspectors and EROs each term. State law does not prescribe the length of the training or the curriculum. Election inspectors and EROs must be qualified electors of their county.
Baseline Chief Inspector Training
The two-hour Baseline CIT class is available online in both The Learning Center (TLC) and on the agency website using a recorded version of the presentation.
- TLC (username and password required): The presentation is composed of seven sections of training, followed by a 30-question self-evaluation. This training can be used by clerks in its entirety to train new chief inspectors and by segment to train new or current poll workers. Clerks need to request a user name and password for their chief inspectors to access TLC: https://elections.wi.gov/clerks/education-training/tlc.
- Agency Website (no username and password required): We have also posted a copy of the Baseline presentation on our main website so clerks do not have to request a user name and password for access. Please keep in mind that training taken outside of TLC cannot be tracked, but as the clerk is responsible for tracking the training of their election workers, we have made this option available: https://elections.wi.gov/clerks/education-training/baseline-cit.
The segments of the Baseline CIT presentation most important to training new poll workers include:
- Pre-Election Preparations: Preparing to serve as an election inspector and polling place set-up (8 minutes).
- Electors, Part 1: Voter registration application, proof of residence, illegible voter list (22 minutes).
- Electors, Part 2: Issuing ballots, proof of identification, absentee ballot log, provisional voting, assisting electors, curbside voting, accessibility, confidential electors, challenging voters (14 minutes).
- Election Day Issues: Opening the polls, cell phone use, photography/videography, election observers, electioneering, closing the polls (6 minutes).
- Ballots: Absentee ballots, overriding ballots, overvoted ballots, crossover ballots, remaking ballots, counting ballots, optical scan ballots, DRE ballots, voter intent, registered write-ins, counting write-ins (20 minutes).
- Documentation: Reconciling poll lists, inspectors’ statement, tally sheets, MBOC, breaking a tie, completing forms (7 minutes).
Voter Registration Application (EL-131) Training PowerPoint
A PowerPoint presentation that reviews each section of the revised voter registration application and acceptable forms of proof of residence is available for clerks to use to train election inspectors in voter registration at the polls on Election Day: https://elections.wi.gov/clerks/education-training/election-inspectors. This presentation can be used to train poll workers who will be assisting voters with election day registrations.
Election Administration Training Webinars
We have conducted a series of election administration training webinars covering such topics as counting write-in votes, processing ballots and issuing provisional ballots. The webinars are indexed by topic when posted, so clerks and their election officials can forward directly to a desired section of the webinar. Each webinar is generally one hour in length.
Any webinar listed in the table of contents at the top of the webinar page that counts for chief inspector training may also count for poll worker training: https://elections.wi.gov/clerks/education-training/webinars.
Some relevant webinars for the April election and the topics covered include:
- 2020 April and Presidential Preference Primary: Sufficient/insufficient absentee certificate envelopes, ‘A’ and ‘B’ ballot preparation and processing.
- Election Day Duties: State your name and address, ERIC movers list, cell phones and selfie guidelines, provisional ballots.
- Preparing for a Statewide Primary: Counting write-in votes.
Election Day Manual
The Election Day manual was updated in January 2020 to reflect the revised voter registration application and changes to provisional voting. The manual can be downloaded from the WEC website: https://elections.wi.gov/clerks/education-training/election-day-manual or ordered: https://elections.wi.gov/node/6554. The manual should be present at each polling place on election day to serve as a resource for poll workers.
Training Agendas
Training agendas are available for clerks to use to train their election inspectors on such election day duties as voter registration, voting equipment and poll book management. Training agendas are structured to be task-based and modular in function so clerks can assemble a training plan depending on their training needs for a specific type of election and election worker: https://elections.wi.gov/clerks/education-training/election-inspectors.
Election Day and COVID-19
We are preparing training materials specific to polling places on election day during the COVID-19 public health crisis. A training presentation will be provided that you can share with your poll workers in advance of election day.
Please contact Allison Coakley if you have any questions: @email or (608) 261-2033.