With the presidential contest two-and-a-half months away, Ulster County elections commissioners Ashley Torres (Democrat) and John Quigley (Republican) are increasing their efforts to recruit a sufficient number of election inspectors to ensure the countywide voting operation runs smoothly on the day of the November 5 vote.
Voter turnout is anticipated to be the highest of any election this century.
“We have 81 poll sites that we operate on election day,” said Torres. “And then we have our six early-voting sites that we’ll have open for the ten days before the election.”
In a typical election year, Torres said, about 500 election inspectors are required for the smooth implementation of voting operations. This year, Quigley would like to see at least 650 inspectors.
“We maintain a fleet of over 200 [voting] machines,” said Quigley, who expects to see them all in use on election day. “And we’re anticipating that we’ll get volunteers who call out. So we’ll want to train more than that 650 in anticipation of not everyone we trained being available.”
Board of Election (BoE) inspectors are paid $18 an hour to serve in one of three capacities: “Ballot masters” signing voters in and distributing ballots, “key masters” observing and operating voting machines to ensure votes are counted, and “chair masters” providing and processing affidavit ballots.
The length of a BoE volunteer’s shift can be daunting.
“It is an aggressively long day,” admitted Torres. “Inspectors have to be at the poll site at 5.15 in the morning. And whereas most poll sites close at 8, ours close at 9 p.m. New York State has the longest election day in the nation.”
“We do allow individuals to work half-day shifts,” disclosed Quigley. “But we have a little bit of a code. You gotta bring a partner. You’re less likely to stand up a partner than you are if we match you with a stranger for a part- time shift. So if we would split it in half and if you get the morning and your friend gets the evening, I know you’re not going to ditch your friend in the evening.”
Volunteers must also audit a two-to-three-hour paid in-person training class.
“We also have an hour of online training that they’re assigned to go home and study at their leisure,” Quigley said. “We give them videos to speed up the in-person class so it doesn’t take four hours to train them.”
To ensure a spirit of bipartisanship, both a registered Republican and a registered Democrat are assigned to each job.
When it’s slow, it’s harder
Election inspector for a decade, New Paltz-based Mary Ann Casamento, 81, is a registered Republican.
“When I started, I did it because it was extra money,” Casamento said. “But I’m also a people person. I enjoy seeing all the people.”
Casamento, who only volunteers to work on the actual election day, said the 16-hour shift wasn’t as grueling as it sounded. “You bring a book, you get a game, you know, anything to occupy your brain for a while,” she explained. “But on a good election year it goes so fast it’s unbelievable.”
Laura Hartmann, 57, has been volunteering as an election inspector since 2020. The registered Democrat is familiar with the long hours, but said she was still looking forward to doing the job.
“I usually do it on very little sleep because I’m a late go-to-bed person,” says Hartmann, who runs a company wrangling jazz musicians. “When it’s slow, it’s harder. Too much downtime. But when it’s busy — and this one is going to be really busy — I can’t wait for this next election.”
It’s going to be busy
Presidential elections reliably inspire the most intense voter engagement. Polarization not only energizes the electorate but also stirs up the competitive juices.
Hartman jokes that a little piece inside her dies whenever she has to help someone vote “for the other side.” Notwithstanding her personal politics, she provides the assurance that she takes her public responsibility earnestly.
“At that point I can’t say or do anything except to help them cast that vote. When I’m in that room,” says Hartmann. “I’m not a Democrat or Republican. I’m an American making sure everybody has a right to vote for who they want. Period.”
Only twice since the beginning of this century have more than 90,000 voters turned out in Ulster County. The largest turnout ever recorded was the 95,560 voters in the 2020 presidential contest. It was an Ulster County landslide. Sixty percent voted for the Democratic ticket headed by Joe Biden.
Donald Trump. Love him or hate him. That portion of the electorate which claims indifference toward the former president is not large.
Quigley and Torres are bracing for the deluge. “We absolutely anticipate a crush of voters,” said Torres.
Come watch the count
Starting on August 26, Torres and Quigley will be running training classes every day except Sundays for the next nine weeks.
The best way to sign up as an election inspector is to go to the BoE website, voteulster.com, and scroll down on the home page. Click on the picture of a person wearing a denim jacket next to an American flag. That click provides an election-inspector link. It explains the job, the roles, and the responsibilities.
Those unwilling or unable to volunteer as poll inspectors but still desirous of satisfying their curiosity as to how the operation is run can do so. The board of elections encourages citizens to observe the testing of the machines, to inspect the sample ballots, to watch as absentee and vote-by-mail ballots are scanned in, and to see audits and recounts performed by a four-member bipartisan board of canvassers.
“All of those mechanisms are allowed to be observed by the public,” said Torres. “Sometimes someone will show up. They stay for a few minutes. They see that it’s like watching paint dry. And then they leave.
“But we do it. And we welcome them. Offer them a seat. We’ll explain what the process is. And some people do come because obviously there’s a lot of anxiety. There’s also a lot of mis- and disinformation out there. So it’s kind of nice when someone does go the extra mile and wants to come and watch us, especially if they’re in that trajectory of thinking that the system is rigged.
“And every time that we’ve had someone come that has felt that way, they leave feeling more confident in it. And that’s nice. Those are nice moments.”
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