What you do
You help run a polling place for one day. You set it up, welcome voters, check
registrations and hand out ballots.
You sign up with your own state or local election office. There is no app
and no company in the middle.
Training comes first, and in many places it is paid.
What it pays
There is no national rate. The federal elections agency says pay is set
locally. So the only honest answer is a list of real places.
Here is what eight election offices published on the day we checked:
- New Jersey: $300 for election day. Early voting days pay $21.43 an
hour instead.
- New York City: $250 for the day, plus $100 for training, paid only
if you pass the exam.
- Cuyahoga County, Ohio: $220 to start.
- Clark County, Nevada: a flat $200 or $250, depending on the job,
plus $50 for training.
- South Carolina: $75 for election day, plus $60 for training, so $135
in total.
- Maricopa County, Arizona: paid by the hour, from $15.15.
- Miami-Dade County, Florida: a stipend set by position, published in a pay
chart we could not read.
That is a four times difference between South Carolina and New Jersey for the
same long day.
One more thing worth knowing. South Carolina says counties may pay more than the
state rate. So even a state figure can be a floor rather than the number.
Your own county sets your pay. Ask it directly.
Who this fits
This fits you if you can give one full day and want it to matter.
You do not need a computer or a smartphone. You do not need experience.
It fits younger people too. New Jersey takes poll workers from age 16, and
Clark County takes high school students at 16.
It fits people who like being useful in their own neighbourhood.
Who should skip this
Skip this if you cannot do a very long day. New York City runs 5:00 a.m. until
after 9:00 p.m.. Clark County calls it about 14 hours.
Skip it if you cannot stay put. Miami-Dade does not let poll workers leave the
polling place during the day.
Skip it if you are not registered to vote where you would work. Most places we
checked require it. New Jersey is an exception for people
under 18.
Skip it in Cuyahoga County if you have a felony conviction, because that county
bars it.
Skip it if you need the money quickly. Cuyahoga County mails cheques four to six
weeks after election day.
Skip it in New York City if you are not enrolled in a major party, because
inspectors there must be.
How to start, step by step
- Find your own election office. State or county, not a national website.
- Ask three questions: what does it pay, is training paid, and when does the
cheque arrive?
- Check the rules for your area. Age, residency, voter registration and party
rules all differ.
- Sign up early. Offices recruit weeks ahead of an election.
- Go to the training. In Florida it is required before every single
election.
- Ask what time you must arrive. Several places start before 5:30 a.m..
- Ask whether you can take breaks, and whether you may leave the building.
Before you pay anyone: You always sign up through your own election office. Nobody legitimate charges a fee to become a poll worker.
Your first week
There is no first week. There is one long day, so plan the day instead.
The night before. Lay out your clothes and pack your food. Charge your phone.
Set two alarms, because the start time is early.
Morning. Arrive before the polls open. Miami-Dade asks people to report at
5:30 a.m. for a 7 a.m. opening.
Midday. Eat, even when it is busy. You may not be allowed to leave the
building.
Evening. Polls close and the work does not. Cuyahoga County workers stay until
about 8:30 p.m., and New York City past 9:00 p.m..
Afterwards. Ask when payment comes and in what form. Four to six weeks is
normal.
Nothing you buy. Bring food, water and shoes you can stand in.
As an Amazon Associate, Side Gig Finder earns from qualifying purchases. These links help pay to keep this site running. We picked these items before we checked if they earn us anything.
- A packed meal and a full water bottle Miami-Dade does not let poll workers leave the polling place all day [F33], and the day can run about 14 hours [F16].
- Shoes you can stand in all day Shifts start before dawn and end after the polls close [F19].
- A phone charger or power bank You are at one site from 5:30 a.m. until shut-down [F19] and may not be able to step out. You can start without it.
We do not print Amazon prices. Check the price on the page.
The downsides
The day is very long, and the pay does not change if it runs late.
Pay varies enormously by where you live, from $75 to $300 in the places we
checked.
You may wait over a month for the money.
Rules can shut you out for reasons that have nothing to do with you. Party
enrolment in New York City. A felony conviction in Cuyahoga County.
It happens only on election days, so it is not steady work.
Questions people ask
Is this taxed? Yes. The IRS counts poll worker pay as taxable wages.
No income tax is taken out unless you ask for it with a W-4.
Will I get a tax form? You get a W-2 once you are paid $600 or more in a
year. This is employee work, so it is never reported on a 1099.
Do I have to be a registered voter? Usually yes. New
Jersey does not require it for workers under 18.
Can a teenager do this? In some places. New Jersey takes 16 year olds.
Maricopa County requires 18.
Sources and dates
- U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Become a Poll Worker, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Become a Poll Worker, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Become a Poll Worker, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- U.S. Election Assistance Commission, Become a Poll Worker, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- New Jersey Division of Elections, Poll Worker Application page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- New Jersey Division of Elections, Poll Worker Application page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- New Jersey Division of Elections, Poll Worker Application page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- New Jersey Division of Elections, Poll Worker Application page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- New Jersey Division of Elections, Poll Worker Application page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- New York City Board of Elections, Election Inspector page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- New York City Board of Elections, Election Inspector page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- New York City Board of Elections, Election Inspector page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- New York City Board of Elections, Poll Worker Positions page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Clark County, Nevada Election Department, Poll Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Clark County, Nevada Election Department, Poll Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Clark County, Nevada Election Department, Poll Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Clark County, Nevada Election Department, Poll Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Cuyahoga County, Ohio Board of Elections, Election Day Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Cuyahoga County, Ohio Board of Elections, Election Day Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Cuyahoga County, Ohio Board of Elections, Election Day Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Cuyahoga County, Ohio Board of Elections, Election Day Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Cuyahoga County, Ohio Board of Elections, Election Day Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- South Carolina Election Commission, Poll Managers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- South Carolina Election Commission, Poll Managers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- South Carolina Election Commission, Poll Managers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- South Carolina Election Commission, Poll Managers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Maricopa County, Arizona Elections Department, Get Involved with Elections page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Maricopa County, Arizona Elections Department, Get Involved with Elections page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Maricopa County, Arizona Elections Department, Get Involved with Elections page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Maricopa County, Arizona Elections Department, Get Involved with Elections page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Miami-Dade County, Florida Supervisor of Elections, Poll Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Miami-Dade County, Florida Supervisor of Elections, Poll Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Miami-Dade County, Florida Supervisor of Elections, Poll Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Miami-Dade County, Florida Supervisor of Elections, Poll Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Miami-Dade County, Florida Supervisor of Elections, Poll Workers page, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Election workers: Reporting and withholding, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Election workers: Reporting and withholding, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Election workers: Reporting and withholding, checked Sep 2, 2026.
- Internal Revenue Service, Election workers: Reporting and withholding, checked Sep 2, 2026.
What we could not confirm
- The $75-$300 pay range covers only the eight places checked on 2026-09-02: New Jersey, New York City, Clark County NV, Cuyahoga County OH, South Carolina, Maricopa County AZ, and Miami-Dade County FL. It is not a national range. There are over 3,000 counties and thousands of townships and cities that run their own elections, and most of them are smaller and pay less than the large jurisdictions that publish rates clearly. A reader's own county rate could be below $75 or above $300.
- Maricopa County publishes an hourly rate ($15.15) rather than a day rate [F27], so its figure cannot be placed on the same scale as the flat day rates without multiplying by hours, which no source does. It is excluded from the range.
- The Maricopa County server rate-limits: it returned HTTP 403 on two consecutive re-reads on 2026-09-02 before verifying cleanly on the third. Facts F27 to F30 are sound, but a future verification run that reports 403 on that URL is hitting the rate limit, not a dead page. Retry before treating it as gone.
- Miami-Dade County publishes its actual dollar amounts only in a PDF pay chart, which this file does not quote. The county page confirms a stipend is paid by position [F31] but not how much.
- Los Angeles County was checked and its election worker pages did not return readable text to the fetcher, so no LA County figure is recorded here. Chicago's Board of Elections returned HTTP 403. Both should be retried by hand before the page claims anything about them.
- The IRS page states a federal FICA threshold of $2,000 'from January 1, 2021, to present, adjusted for inflation' but does not print the adjusted figure for 2026. The current-year threshold is not recorded here and should not be stated on the page.
- Whether an employer or a benefits program treats one day of poll work as income that affects a reader's benefits is not answered by any source read here. It is a question for the agency paying the benefit.
- Training length, whether training is online or in person, and whether the training stipend is paid separately or with the day rate vary by jurisdiction and were only confirmed for New York City [F11], Clark County [F15] and South Carolina [F24].
- Rates change election by election. Every figure here was read on 2026-09-02 and should be re-read before the November 3, 2026 general election.
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