For election workers, it's showtime

November 02, 2012

On Election Day a small army of poll workers will staff the hundreds of polling sites in Maricopa County. But weeks before, another team of workers was busy assembling supplies to make sure everything is in order when voters show up to cast their ballots. KJZZ’s Al Macias reports.

Maricopa County Recorder Maricopa County Recorder John Bollinger of the Maricopa County Recorder's Office works on polling place logistics. Supplies from a warehouse will be loaded into trucks for delivery by Nov. 6. (Photos by Al Macias - KJZZ)


AL MACIAS: The recorder’s office is responsible for elections in Maricopa County. There are 715 polling sites scattered across the county. The man in charge of the all the supplies  who makes sure  they get delivered to the right location is John Bollinger. More than a week before the election, Bollinger is rolling up the gate on one his fleet of trucks that will be delivering equipment. The truck is stuffed with everything from paper clips to voting machines.

JOHN BOLLINGER: We start about 4 to 5 weeks out. We have to assemble 3,000 packets worth of supplies that have to go out. At that point we are counting forms, we are counting ballot pens. We are counting signs. Every polling place gets a set amount of those so we have to set down and put all that stuff into a certain bundle and deliver it.

MACIAS: Bollinger says he has seen some changes in his 11 years on the job, including new machines for people with physical impairments and scanners that allow them to track equipment more efficiently. But even with new technology, there’s still clean-up.

BOLLINGER: After the election, it’s pretty much the reverse, we have to send all these 18 trucks out for a total of about 5 to 10 days and pick up all this equipment.

MACIAS: Bollinger and his team used to have more than 1,100 polling sites to worry about. With early balloting, fewer people actually vote on Election Day so his workload before and after the election is a little lighter now.