EBC seeks 13,000-plus poll-day staff for local government elections

WITH the date for local government elections expected to be announced today, the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) is inviting the public to apply for poll-day staff positions by June 4.

The EBC's website says people can apply to be presiding officers, deputy presiding officers, poll clerks, information officers and officers in charge of the ballot box.

It stressed that applicants must be citizens of and registered to vote in Trinidad and Tobago.

It also warned that political activists, whom it described as people "who are actively involved in campaign activities," cannot apply.

It added that former poll-day staff must reapply.

The online application form asks for applicants' names, addresses, national ID card numbers, date of birth, e-mail address, level of education/certification attained and whether they have previously worked as poll-day staff.

Speaking to Newsday on Monday, the EBC's corporate communications manager Bobbi Rogers said typically, for local government elections, the commission aims for 13,000-15,000 poll-day staff.

She said people had been asking about it for a while, "because from the time the talk of local government elections came up, they started to talk about it."

Asked if there would be sufficient time to train the incoming cohort of poll-day staff, she said, "An election has a life cycle of a minimum of 35 days, and under those circumstances, we do everything that we are required to do within the stipulated time-frame. So yes, it gives us enough time."