The Los Angeles County registrar’s office is actively recruiting bilingual workers to work at voting centers during the upcoming primary election.
The agency has an “immediate need” to hire folks who can speak, read and write in Japanese, Khmer, Thai and Korean. In particular, it has a “really high need” for Japanese speakers to work at sites in Long Beach, Daylyn Presley, a spokesperson for the registrar’s office, said.
In addition to those four languages, the registrar is recruiting people who are proficient in Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu, Vietnamese, Tagalog or other languages. A full list of the languages is available at lavote.gov/electionworker.
Bilingual workers would assist voters in understanding election materials, answering questions and guiding them through the voting process in their preferred language.
“Election workers are the people who make voting possible at vote centers across the county,” Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Dean Logan said in a statement.
Workers will receive training and can earn up to $1,180 during the upcoming primary election period. Those proficient in a language other than English that the county is focused on hiring will receive an additional $100 stipend.
Election workers must be 18 or older (unless they’re participating in the county’s student election worker program). In addition, they must be a U.S. citizen and registered to vote in California or have legal permanent resident status.
Individuals can indicate when applying which languages they speak and the cities or neighborhoods in which they wish to be placed.
The registrar’s office will do its best to accommodate those requests, but assignments ultimately will be based on operational needs. The agency operates hundreds of vote centers across L.A. County during elections.
As for language needs, there are more than 5.8 million registered voters in L.A. County, and nearly 409,000 voters requested election materials in a language other than English during the last election, according to the registrar’s office. The top three alternative languages that voters requested materials in were Spanish, Chinese and Korean. The registrar’s office provides election materials in English and more than 18 other languages, Presley said.
The next Election Day is June 2, though many vote centers will open in the days beforehand for early voting.
Those wishing to become an election worker are encouraged to apply early, though the registrar’s office will accept applications on a rolling basis, Presley said.
To apply, visit lavote.gov/electionworker or call 800-815-2666 and press option 7.
