The voter registration deadline may be over, but now the City of East Lansing has to worry about finding students to work the elections.
East Lansing City Hall is looking for people to work Nov. 7, election day.
“It is really fun, and you get to see how the process works,” said Sue Donnell, city clerk for East Lansing.
Because the work day is from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. or 10 p.m., one important factor for students is their class schedule.
“Working (the entire day) will provide students with an opportunity to make $85 for the day, but if the question is that the kids can’t get the entire day off and need some time liberated, we can take shifts such as 6 a.m. until 2 p.m., or evening hours,” Donnell said.
However, Donnell said they prefer students work the entire day.
Rabeeh Shouhayib, a social relations sophomore, said he thinks the money is not enough.
“They are paying too little for too much time,” he said. “They really should make the money at least $100 for the entire day to make the job more enticing.
“You’re looking at 6.50 an hour, and for such a long day they should (factor in) overtime.”
East Lansing still needs about 100 workers, Donnell said.
“The large number of employees still necessary is because the next election is a presidential one,” Donnell said.
Donnell said they do not plan on advertising the job yet.
“We are in a holding pattern to see how many people sign up on their own,” Donnell said. “If we still need more, we will certainly begin to get the word out.”
The lack of people signing up to work is not the only number that is down. Registration numbers have been down this year also, Donnell said.
“We are very pleased with the number of registered voters, but it is still a relatively low amount (compared to the last election), she said.
Although exact numbers have not been tabulated, Donnell estimated there are about 4,000 registered voters in the areas that are known to be student areas, such as campus. During the last election, that number was close to 7,000, Donnell said.
“I don’t know why (there are fewer voters), but I would like to think that people are registered at their hometowns,” she said. “I really wish I could explain it.”
You must be a registered voter to work at the polls, Donnell said. The only exception is if you are a high school student who is not yet eligible to vote.
There are a few benefits that employees will gain, she said.
“They will really meet a ton of nice people, and it seems that a lot of people don’t really know how the election process works, they just see results,” Donnell said, “This is an opportunity to get paid and something that’s productive for the city.”
