According to Riverside County Assistant Registrar of Voters Doug Kinzle, Riverside voter turnout could be as high as 80 percent in November's presidential election and the county is begging for people to be poll workers (which I think is a waste of time.)

The PE's Julia Glick reported here that in the past two presidential elections, turnout in Riverside County hovered above 70 percent and was considered high. Besides adding poll workers and polling places, Inland registrars of voters are planning for voluminous mountains of extra-bulky paper ballots. They are also campaigning to boost voting by mail in order to reduce the lines at the polls.

The increased turnout will require more poll workers, but anyone reading this blog will most likely be volunteering for some local Republican campaign on Election Day and won't be able to waste their day sitting in a neighbor's garage. Kinzle acknowledges that recruitment will be difficult and that he needs more poll workers than they have ever used - about 4,000 workers at the polls in November. The county had about 2,500 poll workers in the 2004 presidential election.

And since voter turnout is so high, the county sees a need to waste some taxpayer money by sending out a refurbished tractor-trailer which enables the registrar of voters' employees to cruise the county signing up poll workers and voters.  They are also starting a new initiative called Adopt-A-Poll, which encourages businesses and civic groups to claim a polling place and to agree to supply it with poll workers.

The county hopes to increase the number of workers at each polling place to as many as six, from four, for this election to keep the lines moving and needs about 800 polling places in November, up from the approximately 720 used in both the February presidential primary and the state's June primary elections, Kinzle said. The county has a few thousand potential polling places surveyed and on file to draw on for the November election, he said.

The counties pay a stipend of about $100 to poll workers, but the hours can stretch from dawn until as late as 9 and 10 at night. 

I think your time would be better spent volunteering on a GOP campaign if you care about the direction of the country.  Fulfill your civic duty when your jury notice comes.  On Election Day, especially with such high turnout, it is time to get every last vote for our fight for freedom and opportunity.

Lively Presidential Campaign Gets Inland Registrars Of Voters Started Early

By JULIA GLICK
The Press-Enterprise

San Bernardino and Riverside counties are already recruiting poll workers and hunting for dozens more polling places in preparation for voter turnout that could be as high as 80 percent in November's presidential election.