The local government election employment drive has started in NSW, and the state’s electoral commission is looking for 20,000 employees for Saturday, September 14.
Acting electoral commissioner Matthew Philips said there are thousands of opportunities for people across NSW to earn money on election day.
“We are recruiting right across NSW and no experience is needed, you just need to be enrolled to vote and available to work on election day,” he said.
“We will train you. You’ll join a huge team working on one of the biggest events to be held in this state. It’s a great day’s work in your local community and we have a lot of staff who return again and again.
“Even if you have no experience working at elections, this is a great opportunity to learn new skills and meet people, while you also play a valuable part in contributing to democracy.”.
Election staff perform a range of tasks on election day, including providing information and assistance to voters, managing the smooth running of polling places and sorting and counting ballot papers.
This will be the first election since the retirement of NSW electoral commissioner John Schmidt, who was charged with “cleaning up politics” by the Baird government in 2016.
But NSW state and local elections are not without their problems. Volunteers are getting harder to come by, as ideological attacks on institutions and conspiracy theories about rigged elections have resulted in violence against election volunteers.
High rates of informal and invalid voting in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities have raised questions about whether enough is being done to ensure equal participation in democracy.
The NSW electoral commission has responded to this putting the call out to multicultural Australians in particular this time, in the hope their familiarity with their own communities will help bridge this gap.
Philips said the commission wanted to create an electoral workforce that better reflected the community.
“If you speak a language in addition to English, if you are a person with disability or if you are a First Nations person, I strongly encourage you to apply.
Expressions of interest can be submitted to the NSW Electoral Commission.
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