Working at an election

Interested in working at the next election? Here is some advice on how you can sign up.

We employ staff at election time to make sure that the process is run smoothly, in an open and transparent way.

To apply, please return the application form to elections@sstaffs.gov.uk and indicate which election you are interested in working on.

Each year we have vacancies for a range of roles:

•   Working in a polling station
•   Opening and sorting postal votes
•   Counting votes overnight or during the day

At each election, we need staff to work in polling stations.

Each polling station has at least two staff allocated to it, with larger stations having more.

Staff are needed from 6.30am to 10pm, as they are required to be on shift during the whole of polling day.

Staff are required to bring food and drink for the duration of their shift.

Training is provided prior to an election.

Each year we send out around 11,000 postal votes.

Once they are returned, they need to be opened and sorted before they are included in the count on election night.

In order to do this before polling day we have teams opening and sorting these postal vote envelopes.

We usually do this at Codsall Community Hub.

Full training is provided at the first opening session.

Once polls close at 10pm, for most elections we count the votes overnight.

Occasionally we count on the following day.

The count generally starts at 10pm, finishing in the early hours of the following day.

We employ count staff to count the votes, working in teams, each with supervisors.

Training is given via a briefing on the night.

Was this page useful?