This form will place you on the Granville County GOP volunteer list to serve as a Volunteer Poll Observer during the North Carolina 2024 General Election. The information you provide will only be used for official Granville County election integrity business. 

Your Commitment!

The information you provide on this form is essential to prepare observer schedules and clear these schedules through the County Board of Elections.  Managing Observer assignments is complicated by state laws that limit our flexibility. It is important that you understand these limitations when you volunteer to be an Observer. Please excuse the complexity. 

All observers must be nominated in writing by the county Party chair and approved by the County Board of Elections one day before their assigned period of duty. When you select a shift, please put it on your calendar so you don't book something over it. 

When you volunteer for a shift, we must assume that you have committed to it. We can't fill your shift with another volunteer unless you notify us at least two days in advance so we can clear the new Observer list through the County BOE. If you must change your selection after volunteering, please call our Election Integrity Coordinator, Gary Kanady, at (703) 447-5993 as soon as you realize you can't honor your commitment.  

Volunteering as a Poll Observer means that you agree to complete the simple online video training listed below. If you can't complete all the training before voting begins, we can still use you as an Observer if you call Gary Kanady and get a general description of your duties.   

Observer Types

State Law provides for  two types of Poll Observers: 

    - At-Large (Roving, who can visit any voting site any time) and
    - Precinct-Specific (Fixed, who must be assigned to four-hour shifts at specific venues). 

We are allowed to have ten Roving Observers for the entire county. Their mobility is only limited by the state rule that you may have only three observers at a time inside a voting venue.  

We can nominate two Fixed Observers per voting venue for specific four-hour shifts. During EV, Fixed Observers may be assigned to either of the Early Voting sites. On Election Day Fixed Observers may only be assigned to the precinct in which they live.

Observer Coverage

In both Early Voting and Election Day, we need to cover as much of the time as we can when the polls are open and as much of the set-up and shutdown time before and after the polls open and close (usually 30 minutes in the morning and an hour in the evening) to verify chain of custody for ballots and supporting forms.

Voting Dates and Times 

Early Voting

17 October - 02 November. Polls are open 8:00 a.m. to 7:30 p.m M-F, Saturdays 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., closed on Sundays.

Note: Only THREE locations are open for Early Voting:

        Oxford Public Works           South Branch Library                  Tar River Elementary
        127 Penn Avenue                1550 South Campus Drive          2642 Philo White Road
        Oxford, NC 27565                Creedmoor, NC 27522                 Franklinton, NC 27525

Election Day

Tuesday, November 05, polls are open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. We have 15 Precincts to cover. Precinct names and locations are available on the Granville County Board of Elections website. If you don't know your precinct, use this link to look up your precinct: https://vt.ncsbe.gov/PPLkup/

Training

The NC Election Integrity Team (NCEIT), a nonpartisan private organization, provides online on--demand training at its website: http://www.nceit.org. If you are a new observer, select "Join," tell them you were recommended by the Granville County Election Integrity County Chair and you will be vetted and given access to the Member Resources section. You take the training at your own pace through a series of short single-subject videos. You should also watch the videos produced by the NC State Board of Elections. They are in the Public Resources section of the NCEIT home page under NC SBOE Observer Training Videos.

You should also complete the online training for the Statewide Election Integrity Reporting System (SEIRS), linked on NCEIT Member Resources page or directly at https://seirs.vqventure.com/  (bottom of home page). SEIRS gives you a way to report observed or suspected election irregularities. NCEIT uses this information to document violations of the law or ambiguities in legal interpretation so they can convince legislators to clarify and strengthen the law and pursue violators through legal channels. Once you complete the SEIRS training, you will be able to report violations directly from your phone or laptop from the polling site or from home while the information is fresh in your mind. 

The fact that you haven't completed all the training doesn't preclude you from serving. Having an observer in the polling place deters cheaters much like parking a police patrol car in front of a store deters thieves. Your very presence will help out.

Please contact our Election Integrity Coordinator, Gary Kanady, at (703) 447-5993 or electionintegrityteam@granvillegop.org if you have any questions.

Other Opportunities to Help with the Election

Board of Elections Observers

Observe, report and monitor scheduled and intermittent BOE activities that can be performed in conjunction with or instead of Poll Observing, See Section 5 below if you are interested in assisting in observing BOE activities. 

Paid Election Worker:  Follow this link to the NC State Board of Elections website. In this capacity, you will be trained by the Granville County Board of Elections. You should also take the training described in Section 7 below because they will help you avoid the most common mistakes in administering election law. 

Under 18 years of age:  Volunteer as a non-paid Student Election Official Assistant.

In either case, your contact information will be sent to the local Board of Elections and they will contact you if they have openings.