Poll Worker Experience and Polling Place Operations

Abstract

Poll workers are street-level bureaucrats who implement policy with limited direct oversight. We ask an important theoretical and practical question: Do experienced and inexperienced poll workers vary systematically in how they operate polling sites? We build on previous work by examining how poll worker training and experience influence their preparedness to operate polling sites and whether more experience leads to better polling place operations. We use a national poll worker survey from the 2022 midterm election to examine how experience relates to job behavior. We find that experienced poll workers are more likely to self-report that training prepared them to work the election. At the same time, poll worker experience leads to more conflicts with poll watchers and voters, and reported difficulties with voting machines. These increased conflicts may be a function of the increased number of duties experienced poll workers have compared to inexperienced ones.