September Election Alert
Thank you all for your interest and willingness to serve as an election worker in some capacity – whether as an election judge, election clerk or poll watcher.
We have a team of experienced volunteers and staff that have been working for weeks to prepare for the November 2023 and 2024 elections (including the Republican Primary Election in March). Given how badly Harris County has run elections for the past few years, this team is planning for the worst and hoping for the best.
We will be having an Election Worker Town Hall via Zoom on Wednesday, September 20 at 7:00pm to go over the processes we have in place for recruiting election workers training, risk assessment and mitigation, and the rapid response team to address in real-time election issues as they occur.
You must register to attend the Election Integrity Town Hall. Zoom details will be sent to registrants one day before the Town Hall.
November 2023 Election Worker Recruitment and Placement:
In June, HCRP submitted a list of election judges nominations for 2023-2024 to be approved by Harris County Commissioners Court. Both political parties are required to submit a list of election workers for approval by the Harris County Commissioners Court every year. Judges should have received “2023-2024 Appointment Letter” via email by now. The purpose of this letter is to confirm you were nominated by your political party for this role and appointed by your Commissioner. If you did not receive a “2023-2024 Appointment Letter,” please check your spam folder and/or contact Susanne Rothschild at [email protected] and she can check on the status.
Next, if you have been placed to work this November election, you should receive a “Placement Letter” with what poll and position you were selected to work .The county is still finalizing polling locations so not all “Placement Letters” have been sent out yet. You must accept or decline their appointment specified in the email or letter to finalize your placement for early voting and/or Election Day. Not all election workers will be be chosen to work this November.
Please note that, unfortunately, under the Election Code – November 2023 is a non-partisan election and the county is responsible for recruiting and placement of judges and clerks for this election.
Election Worker Training for November 2023:
If you are assigned to work a poll, you are required to complete training offered by Harris County. As of September 6, the training schedule has not been posted. However, you can check this website for updates: https://www.harrisvotes.com/Election-Workers/Election-Training.
If you want to be a Poll Watcher (even if you have served before as one) – you are required to complete the Texas Secretary of State Online Poll Watcher Training Program. Upon completing the courses, you will be able to print a certificate indicating that you have completed the Secretary of State’s training. Poll watchers who complete the Poll Watcher Training must present their certificate of completion to the presiding judge at the polling place to be accepted as poll watchers. The training can be found at: https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/onlinepollworker.shtml.
The Harris County GOP also offers supplemental training for election law and poll watchers in September and October. These classes will be offered via Zoom. More information is coming soon about these classes. There have been many election law changes this past spring – so you won’t want to skip this training.
Poll Watchers for November 2023:
We plan to place poll watchers at various polling locations around the county. We will also help candidates find poll watchers. As we mentioned, if you are interested in becoming a poll watcher, we recommend you take the Texas Secretary of State Online Poll Watcher Training AND supplemental training offered by the Harris County GOP. Sign up here for more updates on Poll Watchers from Harris County GOP: www.harriscountygop.com/become-an-election-worker/.
Information from Harris County:
- General Information: November 7, 2023 – Uniform Election
- Information for Election Workers: https://www.harrisvotes.com/Election-Workers – election-workers-qa
- This link has many answers to questions
Thank you for your willingness to serve and defend our ballot! If you have any questions or concerns, please call HCRP HQ at 713-838-7900 or email [email protected]. Hope to see you at our Election Worker Town Hall on Wednesday, September 20, at 7:00 PM via Zoom.
