ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Calling all registered voters: Belmont County needs your help, especially if you are a Democrat.

Eberle Ferrell, director of the Belmont County Board of Elections and a Democrat, recently visited a meeting of the county Democratic Party in hopes of persuading some members to help staff polling locations during the Nov. 4 general election. Just as a bipartisan balance is required among board members and staff, with Deputy Director Kamron Chervenak being a Republican, each of the county’s 69 polling precincts must be staffed by a bipartisan mix of individuals.

During a phone interview on Thursday, Ferrell said the county needs 276 total poll workers, which would place four workers at each precinct. The county previously had 70 precincts, but two Flushing Township precincts were recently combined in Precinct 47.

“Just on registration records, most of the county is unaffiliated or mostly registered Republican,” Ferrell said. “Each election we have a desperate need for workers affiliated with the Democratic Party.”

She noted that in addition to making sure poll workers at each location are evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, the board needs to have reliable people trained and on call in order to fill the gap when a scheduled poll worker calls off on Election Day.

According to Ferrell, each voting location manager must be a Republican, and the board works to staff the sites evenly from there. Nonpartisan voters also can be poll workers if the need exists, but the bipartisan split needs to be established before they are added to the ranks.

Those who choose to become poll workers must undergo a training session that lasts two and a half to three hours, Ferrell added. That training is offered at the board of elections office, located at 52180 National Road, St. Clairsville.

Poll workers are compensated for their time, Ferrell added. Each individual who attends and completes training receives $125 even if they are not placed at a voting location on Election Day. They will remain on the alternate list.

Those who work the polls on Election Day receive a base pay of $133. They are asked to arrive at 5:30 a.m. – one hour before the polls open at 6:30 a.m. For most, the day ends at 7:30 p.m. when the polls close.

Each location manager and one worker from the opposite party at each location are tasked with transporting supplies and memory cards from voting machines back to the board office. Ferrell said those folks are paid an additional $10 plus mileage for their travel at a rate of 70 cents per mile.

The need for workers varies from one location to another.

“It’s a mix across the county,” Ferrell said, noting that some of the greatest need can be found in Bridgeport and in Wayne and Washington townships in the Alledonia and Beallsville areas. Since those communities border on Monroe County, Ferrell stressed that to work in a Belmont County voting location, a person must be a Belmont County resident.

“We have quite a few precincts in the Carnes Center. I think that is our largest location with eight precincts centrally located (at the fairgrounds outside St. Clairsville).” Ferrell said. “We are not focusing on one area over another. The need is kind of widespread.”

She pointed out that one does not have to work in the same location where they would vote.

“We would never place anybody without calling first, but you can work outside your ‘home precinct,'” she noted. “We pay mileage as kind of an incentive, but we always check first.”

That mileage rate also is 70 cents per mile.

Ferrell acknowledged that many of the county’s poll workers are veteran staff members who have been staffing voting locations for decades.

“Some have worked for us for 40-50 years,” she said. “They know their stuff. They have worked for us for so long, they run their precincts like a well-oiled machine.”

She added that placing new poll workers with those individuals has benefits.

“If we have newbies, they can show them the ropes and more or less have a little extra training from people who have done it for so long.”

Poll worker training sessions for the upcoming election will be held between Sept. 29 and Oct. 3. Ferrell said those interested should contact the office ahead of time so they can be added to the board’s system and so that the staff can send a reminder in the mail about their scheduled training time.

The board can be reached at 740-526-0188.

“Working on Election Day is a great way to defend our democracy,” Ferrell added. “So if that something deemed important to any Belmont County residents, that’s a great way to involved.”