Election Worker Mentorship and Debrief Program

About the Program

Category: Personnel Management, Employment and Training (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

The COVID-19 Pandemic led to the resignation of many long-time poll workers in Santa Fe County and across the country. Because Clerk’s Offices rely on poll workers returning from previous elections to ensure consistent election delivery and retention of institutional knowledge, Clerk’s Offices need to get creative in their efforts to retain poll workers. In 2021, the Santa Fe County Clerk’s Office introduced new strategies to overcome this obstacle. A Presiding Judge Mentorship Program and a Post-Election Debrief was developed for our county’s temporary election workers. The mentorship program was designed to provide our new Presiding Judges the opportunity to shadow an experienced Presiding Judge during Early Voting to gain confidence about the requirements and tasks to effectively run a polling location. The Post-Election Debrief was created to provide the necessary feedback from our election boards on what worked well and what needed improvement. This program allowed our office to meet with our leadership and non-leadership positions to ensure well-rounded feedback on how well training, resources and support were given. The provided feedback helped our team identify areas of successes and concerns and helped hone the procedures and hands-on work that is required to run a polling location. These programs instilled a great working relationship of mutual respect and constructive feedback between the County Clerk’s Office and temporary election staff which aides in crucial election worker retention. New and returning election workers appreciated the opportunity to participate in both programs, felt ownership of the election process by giving actionable feedback, increasing their likelihood of returning to serve in the future.