Election Staffing and Recruitment

Are you interested in helping us run elections within Worcester City? At each election, we hire temporary staff to assist us in polling stations and at the count.

For the May 2025 election, we are actively recruiting Poll Clerks for polling stations throughout the city. We are looking for people with a good general level of education and administrative skills and good attention to detail, you do not need experience for this role as full training will be provided.

We are also looking to recruit Presiding Officers with previous experience in the role.

We are not actively looking to recruit to other roles currently but are happy to add your details to our staff database.

All potential staff have their contact details added to our staff database. We use these details to contact all staff ahead of each election to ask about your availability. We will keep these details until you tell us you no longer wish to work for us. Our privacy policy can be viewed here.

Election roles

Presiding Officer and Poll Clerk

• pdf Presiding Officer job description (154 KB)
• pdf Poll Clerk job description (160 KB)

Polling station staff are responsible for the conduct of the ballot and making sure everyone who is entitled to vote is able to, without facing barriers or undue influence. 

Presiding Officers have overall responsibility for their allocated polling station and must comply with the law and instructions of the Returning Officer to ensure the polling station is run correctly. They must have a good knowledge of voting procedures and have experience working at Polling Stations previously. 

Poll Clerks assist the Presiding Officer to run a polling station. They help to set up polling station equipment, assist in the issue of ballot papers to members of the public, mark the electoral register and assist in the accurate completion of paperwork. 

On election day, polling stations are open from 7am to 10pm. Staff must be on duty from 6:30am until shortly after 10pm.  

Working in a polling station is not subject to the European Working Time Directive and due to this there is no guaranteed breaks during the day, and staff are not permitted to leave the station during the day. 

Staff are required to bring food and drink for the duration of the day at the polling station. 

All staff employed to work at a polling station must undertake training before taking up their appointment. 

Count assistant or steward

• pdf Count Assistant job description (128 KB)
• pdf Count Steward job description (144 KB)

Election counts are either held overnight, immediately following the poll, or the next day. Teams of between 6-10 count assistants will sort and count the ballot papers, led by experienced supervisors. Stewards are responsible for moving ballot boxes, generally assisting the supervisors, and will also do some counting ballot papers and sorting of equipment and paperwork. Training is usually provided on the day, though online training may be offered beforehand.

REGISTER YOUR INTEREST TO WORK AT THE ELECTIONS