By: Mikayla Ho, Staff Writer

During the general elections on November 5th, a few Mills students got the opportunity to participate in Vote Center operations at a local libraries to further learn about the election process.

The San Mateo County Registration & Elections Division’s Student Democracy Program, is a program that gives high school students the chance to see democracy in action. For working a 15-hour shift with two one-hour breaks and three fifteen-minute breaks, students earned a stipend of 280 dollars.

Senior Michelle Yeung, a volunteer shares, “I found out about this opportunity a while ago during the primary elections in March. It was via a friend who was recommended for it by a teacher but didn’t end up doing it herself,” she says.

Volunteers were assigned to rotating stations throughout the day to gain insight on  the various operations at the center.

“Each volunteer of my training division rotated between three jobs. The first job was voter check-ins/line management where you would be at the desk in the front and hand them a clipboard to fill in their basic information and verify their signature,” says Yeung. “This job was pretty tedious and sometimes difficult as you’d have to communicate the same rhetoric over and over again, deal with angry voters, and manage clipboard and pen collection.”

Yeung’s second job was to make voters feel safe with their ballots. It was done with another volunteer to ensure people’s ballots were signed and sealed. “I’d say this was the easiest job when it wasn’t cold and I got to learn about the other experiences of volunteers during this shift, which was super enlightening.”

Yeung’s last job was to issue ballots. “The last job, which I did for the majority of the time, was issuing ballots. This job was super fast-paced and imperative as it dictated how fast the line was going to move. While the more experienced volunteers would be verifying information at the tables in the front, we would be behind them eyeing the precincts and identifying whether the voter wanted to vote on paper or on the BMT (ballot marking tablet),” Yeung comments. “Me and the other volunteer doing this job had to be super quick on our feet in order to fill the room with voters getting them in and out because so many people waited in line for over an hour.”

Olivia Pan (11) experienced working at the vote center in the Chetcuti Room, the building next to the Millbrae Library. “I found out through my stats teacher Mr. Headley, he told us on the first day that you could serve as a poll worker and get money. So I was interested in being involved somehow in the election process even though I can’t vote yet.”

While working at her stations, Pan noted the occasional changes that happened. “The environment itself constantly changed, sometimes work would be slow, but as the rush hours came at 5-8pm, there was a long line of people waiting outside the building to vote and we had to adapt and do our best to work efficiently despite some difficulties and problems with our materials/technology,” Pan says.

Pan experienced a positive environment saying, “The staff we were working with were really nice. Everyone worked together really well even though we didn’t know each other before, and everyone was helpful towards one another.” 

Zurine Cheng (12), another volunteer, also worked at the Millbrae Library. “I found out about this opportunity on the Mills newsletters that come out monthly, and I decided to apply,” says Cheng.

Cheng, who also worked at the Millbrae Library explained the different places volunteers were assigned. “So throughout the day, there were a lot of volunteers and staff from the San Mateo county elections, and we rotated through many jobs. And the first job was check and counter. Second was printing out ballots. Third was registering voters. Fourth was managing the lines, and fifth was managing the drop off outside box.”

With this event, the volunteers learned many valuable lessons such as time management and communication.

“I learned that in order to work in a very fast and stressful environment, to say it must be important to ensuring that you’re communicating with others efficiently whenever we’re taking our breaks or lunches, to manage the lines effectively, and also to ensure that the operation center is moving smoothly throughout the election process as we try to register, and have as many people to vote before the APM deadline,” says Cheng.

Pan appreciates getting the time to understand more about the voting process. “The main [thing] I learned is how the voting process is done from registering to vote to counting ballots, and the different ways you can vote. It was definitely a valuable experience that’ll be helpful when I become old enough to vote,” she says.

It is great to see students at Mills be a part of the action in our community through this unique occasion. “Overall, I would recommend this experience to those that can handle fast paced jobs, communicate with a variety of people, and are interested in political processes!” says Yeung.