From Sharon Bemis – Election Integrity State Director, Maine:
I am working on sharing the Election Integrity program plan for 2022 and recruiting leaders in each county to help recruit volunteers to be poll workers and poll watchers. The December trainings below will provide an overview for anyone interested in volunteering and more details about the Neighborhood Team Leader model. At the beginning of the year, I will be hosting trainings that will be focused on specific topics that I have heard questions about including absentee voting, RCV tabulation, new election laws, the challenge process, and many more.
You can find upcoming events on GOPVictory.com. And you are welcome to contact me at this email.
Upcoming Trainings:
Wednesday, December 1st at 6pm, Maine Election Integrity Virtual RLI (gopvictory.com)
Wednesday, December 8th at 6pm, Maine Election Integrity Virtual RLI (gopvictory.com)
Wednesday, December 15th at 6pm, Maine Election Integrity Virtual RLI (gopvictory.com)
In Maine, town, county, and state party committees can suggest potential poll worker nominees to Clerks. Clerks must nominate poll workers by April 1st of the even years. Municipal officials have until May 1st to appoint the poll workers for a two-year term. During a recent Clerk’s training with the Secretary of State that I attended, many clerks voiced concern about not having enough poll workers to fill roles, let alone enough poll workers to fill a bench which is optimal in case of poll workers not being available for the many elections held throughout a year. I plan to collaborate with Town and County Chairs to create a roster of potential nominees for Clerks who are struggling to find Republicans to be poll workers.
If you want to be a poll worker or watcher you should see your municipal Clerk. The Clerks do not recruit or train volunteers. Poll watchers are representatives of the party who monitor the polls on behalf of the party and our Election Integrity program.
To be a poll watcher, volunteers can sign up for one of the trainings above to get started. Our program will be focusing on recruiting, training, and then placing poll watchers around the state. I also have a weekly election integrity email that volunteers can sign up for to learn about upcoming trainings and the program.
Thank you,
Sharon P. Bemis
Election Integrity State Director, Maine
310 First Street SE Washington, DC 20003
Cell: 207-668-6157
Email: SBemis@GOP.com
Twitter handle: @BemisSharon