Kids work at the polls

The U.S elections attracted the attention of many Samo students whose purpose were to contribute as well as learn from a unique experience.When registered voters line up to cast their ballots in any election, they perhaps overlook the work that goes into making a polling station run smoothly. This year a handful of Samo students, most of them not old enough to vote, contributed to the voting process by volunteering to work at local polling stations.Amelia Brennan (’17), who isn’t 18 yet, decided to lend a hand to the community by working as a poll worker in order to be involved with the election process.“I’m volunteering as a poll worker because I’m unable to actually vote in the election," Brennan said. "So I figured this was the closest way to still be involved.”Aside from being a sign of involvement with the community, becoming a poll worker has some unique benefits. Students in California receive around $100 for volunteering and $20 for attending the mandatory training. Some schools offer credit and/or hours for volunteering in order to fulfill a community service requirement for graduation.Demi Pacheco (’17) took the day off to work at the polls, and received a considerable amount of money for spending the whole day working.“They are paying me $145 stipend all together to attend a training and to work on Election Day,” Pacheco said. “The salary is great, considering that it’s a one day event and I’m working as a high school student.”Moreover, the requirements are pretty simple; it is mandatory to be a registered California voter or legal resident of the United States who is eligible to vote and at the same time, eligible high school students can participate as well. To serve as a high school poll worker, a student must follow all of the following: the student has to be a United States citizen or legal permanent resident, be at least 16 years old on Election Day, attend a public or private high school, have at least a 2.5 grade point average, get permission from his parents and school and attend a training session.According to Morgan Affleck (’17), volunteering at the polls is a great opportunity to gain more knowledge on the U.S Elections and to have a clearer idea of how such events look like.“I’ve volunteered a lot in my community, but I have never participated in such a huge event," Affleck said. "I found out about the opportunity from my AP government teacher because she made an announcement to our class and handed out applications. I’m not old enough to vote, so it gives me a different way to be a part of the election."Poll workers had quite a busy day, working from 6:00 a.m. up until as late as 9:30 p.m. depending on the area. During these 15 hours, the workers spend most of the time setting up the polls, providing assistance to voters and finally conducting poll closing procedures.“The experience was interesting,” Brennan said. “It was a really long day with very few breaks, but it was also fun to interact with all sorts of different people and I was surprised by how fast the day went.”However, there was an unexpected turnout that happened at the polls as it was expected to welcome a bigger amount of people than the actual number that showed up in Santa Monica. Nevertheless, According to the Santa Monica Lookout, Hillary Clinton received 80 percent of the votes in Santa Monica, which would have made her go straight to the White House in the hypothetic case of only using these votes for the U.S election.“I was very surprised by the low turnout, especially with this being such an important election,” Affleck said. “Our precinct had about 1000 voters registered, but we only got around 400 ballots at the end of the day.”