Center for the Study of Local Issues
Student Club

Pollwatching

Pollwatching is a fancy term to denote the role of election judges.  The latter are paid to be trained in the rules that need to be followed on election at each of the many polling sites around the state.  They attend training and are then assigned to a polling station.  Currently there is a deficiency in the numbers of election judges available.  Many older people that once volunteered as election judges are no longer able to participate.  The Maryland Board of Elections has reached out to Maryland's colleges and universities to try to recruit students to be election judges.  Interested students should discuss such opportunities with the CSLI director.

Here is some information about voter mobilization via a letter received by Dr Nataf:

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Dear Professor Nataf

 

My name is Billy Grayson, and I am the director of Maryland Votes, a statewide nonpartisan organization working to register, educate, and mobilize young voters in Maryland

 We are having a conference and organizing training at the University of Maryland, College Park. The conference will be a great opportunity for students across the state to learn grassroots organizing skills that they can take back to their campuses.

 I would appreciate it if you could pass on the conference announcement to your students, and maybe even consider giving some extra credit to students who come out for our event!

 For the conference agenda, students can also go to www.youngvoter.org/marylandvotes

Thank you,

 Billy Grayson

Maryland Student Voter Mobilization Conference

April 29, 2006

10 am – 6 pm

University of Maryland, College Park

Join the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) and Maryland Votes for a full day of speakers, trainings, and small group sessions on mobilizing student voters in 2006.

For students interested in civic engagement, elections, voter registration, and grassroots organizing, this conference is a great, non-partisan opportunity to learn campus organizing and political skills, and to meet political and issue organizers working on the 2006 elections.

Conference workshops will include:

1) Registration tactics – how to build a campus community of voters

2) Voter education – how to mobilize student voters around the issues that matter to them

3) Coalition building – building a campus team to mobilize student voters.

4) GOTV – create a thorough plan to get-out-the-vote on campus

5) Roles in the electoral process – learn how to be a poll-watcher, election monitor, and precinct captain in state and community elections.

 Speakers and trainers will include:

 Heather Smith, Director of Young Voter Strategies

Hans Reimer, Washington Director for Rock The Vote

David Edeli, Senior Organizer for Public Citizen and former Florida Director for MoveOn

Billy Grayson, Director of Maryland Votes

Abby Kiesa, Youth Coordinator for CIRCLE

June Dillard-White, Prince George’s County NAACP President

Maria Roeper, former director of the Workers’ Rights Consortium

Jessy Tolkan, organizer for Grassroots Campaigns

Jessica Hodge, National Conservation Organizer for the Sierra Club

 

The conference will also include a wide range of speakers, from local elected officials to the directors of national voter registration and mobilization organizations.

 

The conference also coincides with Maryland Day at UMD, an annual Maryland pride event with additional speakers and events on campus.

 

RSVP – if you would like more information about the conference, or to register, go to

 

 www.youngvoter.org/marylandvotes

 

For questions, contact Billy Grayson at 301-405-0404 or e-mail wgrayson@umd.edu