Best Practices

While every county has to train their employees on the processes of the election that are highlighted in the Election Code, there are some best practices. Several training specifics were unique to the individual counties.

Collin County

Collin County provided training materials that addressed every aspect of the election, and they also provided helpful videos that broke down parts of these trainings.120 The videos that Collin County provides to its poll workers add an extra layer of instructions regarding the election process. The videos cover training such as Early Voting and Election Day set up and closing of polling locations, as well as procedures on dealing with Provisional Voting and Spoiled Ballots.

Dallas County

Dallas County had multiple presentations and election manuals that described how workers must be trained on the procedures, accompanied by helpful visual aids. These showed not only what poll workers must do, but also familiarized the workers with what their tasks would look like. Dallas County included pictures of the applicable forms, machines, or machine screens to demonstrate to the poll worker what they would look like as the worker progressed through the procedures.

Figure 5-2: Dallas County Voter Check-in Flow Chart

120 See Links to PollWorker Training Videos.

Harris County

Harris County was the only county to provide instructions to its poll workers on what to do in case of an emergency. The training instructs its poll workers who to call and how to prepare in case there is a need to evacuate the polling location. This section also informed election judges what they needed to have on them at all times.

Figure 5-3: Harris County Emergency Training

Tarrant County

Much like Collin County, Tarrant County also provided videos on how to set up equipment and instructions on how to close a polling location. Tarrant County also maintained a log of all the Secretary of State training attendees and records of whether or not they passed the training.