The Berrien County Clerk’s office will hold an event to offer free election inspector training in June.
Berrien County Clerk Stacy Loar-Porter tells us election inspectors are the people you meet upon walking into a polling place. They’re the ones who take your driver’s license and help you sign in to vote.
“They check voters in, we look up voters to make sure they’re in the right location and that they’re a qualified voter to vote in that jurisdiction,” Loar-Porrter said. “They issue ballots, they instruct the voters how to tabulate the ballots in the machine.”
And Loar-Porter says they generally watch over the polling place to ensure all is running smoothly. She says there is a great need for more elections staff in the county.
“We had a big retirement movement in 2020 after the 2020 elections that was with COVID and stuff. It was really hard on a lot of people. A lot of our inspectors that had been doing it a very long time had decided it was time for them to step away. We had a few more retire in 2024. We are always in need of more people.”
Loar-Porter says just about anyone can volunteer to help out, age 16 and older.
The free and open training session will be June 3 at 6 p.m. at the Berrien County Conference Center on Napier Avenue in Benton Township. That’s the large conference room at the health department. Clerk staff will be there to offer hands-on training with real tabulation machines.
At the conclusion of the event, attendees will receive a Certificate of Election Inspector Training, qualifying them to serve as election inspectors anywhere in the State of Michigan for the next two years.
Loar-Porter asks anyone who plans to attend to RSVP by calling the clerk’s office or emailing elections@berriencounty.org.
