More election judges are needed in Peoria County for the Nov. 5 election.
Elizabeth Gannon is executive director of the Peoria County Election Commission. She said about 400 people are needed to fully staff the county's 55 polling places. Currently, there's a need for around 50 to 100 more recruits.
Election judges have a lot of duties, including setting up and preparing polling locations and voting equipment, signing in and processing voters, and helping voters cast their ballots. They're also responsible for canvassing and reporting back the results from their polling place.
"We're making sure that every ballot is accounted for, and we're signing off on all of that before it's coming back to the election commission after the polls close," said Gannon, adding the job is a bipartisan effort by design.
"We look for balance in our polling places," she said. "We cannot open a polling location unless we have at least one Democrat and one Republican judge in our polling location."
Gannon said the election commission looks at a judge's previous voting history in primaries to determine which party they will represent.
Judges make $200 for a long day of work, but Gannon said it's a good opportunity to serve the community and see democracy in action. High school juniors and seniors who are 17 or older can serve as election judges if they have a grade point average of at least 3.0.
Election judges must be U.S. citizens and registered voters. A judge must represent an established political party, but candidates and precinct committeepersons can't serve as election judges in Illinois.