At an election, a number of casual working opportunities become available. You will be working for The Returning Officer in a personal capacity. For Sheffield, this is Kate Josephs. You are not being employed by Sheffield City Council.
Role requirements
To work at an election you must:
- be over 18 to work as a poll clerk
- be over 16 to work as a counting assistant
- have the right to work in the UK
- be able to correspond via email
- meet the requirements of the job description
We also stipulate that you cannot work on the elections if you have:
- campaigned on behalf of a candidate or party
- nominated a candidate
- have a personal relationship with an elected representative or candidate
Please contact us if you are unsure whether these criteria apply.
Available roles
These are the roles that we need for the next election cycle.
Polling Station Poll Clerk
Polling stations are set up across the City and are open to voters from 7am to 10pm on polling day. Staff are required to work at these stations all day to make sure everyone who is entitled to vote is able to do so.
Each station has a Presiding Officer who is in charge. There are between 1 and 4 poll clerks who assist in checking voter identification and issuing ballot papers. Training is provided before each election. This is usually online but occasionally in person.
Once you have gained experience working as a poll clerk, you may be invited to step up to Presiding Officer.
Job description
- assisting the Presiding Officer to prepare the polling station for the poll
- checking identification of electors attending to vote
- finding and marking the electors on the register of electors
- issuing ballot papers
- assisting the Presiding Officer to close the polling station and prepare items for transportation to the Count venue
- complete an online interactive training session
Counting Assistant at the count
Once the polls close at 10pm, ballot boxes are taken to a central count centre. This is usually the English Institute of Sport. Sometimes the count will commence immediately at the close of poll, and sometimes it will be the following day.
Counting Assistants are allocated to teams of 8 or 10 and are led by three experienced Count Supervisors.
Once you have gained experience working as a count assistant you may be invited to step up to the Count Supervisor role.
Job description
- verifying the number of ballot papers in each ballot box
- sorting the ballot papers into the various candidates
- counting the ballot papers for the various candidates
The Returning Officer wishes to promote opportunities to under-represented groups. They value equality, diversity and inclusion. Increasing the diversity of election staff will create a workforce that reflects the communities in the city.
Reasonable adjustments are changes that can be made to remove or reduce a disadvantage related to someone's disability. If you require a reasonable adjustment please mention it in the Expression of interest form.
How to apply
You can apply for any of the positions listed here by completing an Expression of Interest form. We will contact you when a position becomes available, usually by email.
Who we share this information with
Please see the Casual Election Staff Privacy Notice for more information. It tells you how we keep, share and use the information you provide us.