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Students Serve as Poll Workers


<img class="alignnone size-full wp-image-7643 lazyload" src="http://www.bishopodowd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/poll-workers.jpg" alt="poll-workers" width="700" height="467" srcset="https://www.bishopodowd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/poll-workers.jpg 700w, https://www.bishopodowd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/poll-workers-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" />

Six O’Dowd students were at ground zero on Election Day – an election many called the most pivotal moment of our lifetime – serving as poll workers at various locations within Alameda County.

Maksymilian Bialek ’17, Elise Cypher ’19, Mark Gravador ’17, Summer Morf ’19, Rouie Shue ’18 and Lauren Singleton ’17 will be putting in full or half days at polling places near their homes. In preparation for their assignments, the students attended a mandatory two-hour training class detailing their responsibilities.

Gravador, who is interested in majoring in political science in college, thought the experience would be enlightening. “Working within the election will give me a better idea of the system,” he said.

The California State Legislature adopted a law allowing high school students to serve as poll workers on Election Day in August 1996. The Student Poll Worker Program promotes civic awareness and educates about the election process by involving students to serve as poll workers on Election Day.

Students must be 16 years of age at the time of the election, must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident and must have a minimum grade point average of 2.5 (on a 4.0 scale). The students are paid for the efforts and can also earn class credit or community service hours.

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