Are you free on Saturday 23 March this year to work at the NSW State election? Would you like to earn nearly $400 to help deliver democracy? The NSW Electoral Commission is urgently seeking people to work as election officials on election day. Election officials: • provide great customer service and keep accurate records • ensure electors are correctly marked off the authorised roll and issued with the appropriate ballot papers • help sort and count ballot papers and decommission the voting centre at the end of the day. NSW Electoral Commissioner John Schmidt said election officials were particularly needed across several regions and he encouraged people to take up the opportunity to participate in the democratic process. "Successful applicants will be provided with all necessary training," he said. "We don’t require people to have any prior experience of working at an election but they must be enrolled to vote." There are nearly 40 out of 93 electoral districts across the state where more applications for election official positions are needed. Election officials start at 7.15am and work until the ballot paper count is completed that evening. To register your interest go to elections.nsw.gov.au NSW Electoral Commissioner John Schmidt said planning for a State election begins at least 18 months prior to the event, with detailed strategies and systematic procedures helping to ensure the biggest event in the State is delivered in a professional and seamless manner. "Helping deliver democracy through election events requires significant coordination and engineering," he said. "There are nearly 5.3 million voters, more than 2,500 individual venues, around one thousand candidates and more than 20,000 workers involved. "Twenty-eight million ballot papers will be printed and more than 2,200 voting centres and 200 early voting centres will be set up. Election staff will visit nearly 600 declared facilities such as nursing homes, aged care facilities and hospitals before election day to allow residents to vote in person on site. "Wherever possible, we source materials locally, particularly cardboard products and stationery as well as printed forms. Wherever possible, we re-use and re-cycle election materials. "We are currently delivering furniture, IT equipment and a broad range of voting materials to 93 election managers’ offices around the state. Each electoral district will have between 17 to 50 voting centres that are then set up from the election managers' offices. "Currently being delivered to election managers' offices: • 3,999 furniture items, including 279 desks, 1,395 chairs and 2,325 trestle tables • 622 pallets • 2,500 computers • 987,000 forms and other materials including stationery kits and first aid kits • 837 cardboard tables • 93 kettles • 82,995 pens with string • 930 canvas ballot boxes • 1,200 new plastic ballot boxes • 15,843 cardboard ballot boxes • 46,400 new cardboard items including signs, voting screens and recycle bins • 80,850 seals to secure ballot boxes and other electoral material • 335,340 bull dog clips
