To be eligible to serve as an election judge or clerk, a person must be a registered voter of Collin County or the political subdivision conducting the election.

The rate of pay for a Presiding Judge for most elections is $15 per hour, for Presiding Alternate Judge is $14 per hour, and for Election Clerks is $13 per hour. The Presiding Judge and Alternate Judge will receive an additional $25 payment for the delivery of election supplies to the Elections Office.

For Primary and Primary Runoff Elections, the pay is processed differently. The County is responsible for paying election workers for hours worked during Early Voting, and the Political Parties pay Election Day workers that are assigned through their Parties. If you have never worked as a poll worker before and you work during a Primary or Primary Runoff Election, you may be asked to complete New Hire Paperwork for both the County and the Political Party. The Election Day rate of pay may also differ according to the rate paid by the Political Party.

Poll workers have options to work Early Voting, Early Voting and Election Day, or only on Election Day. The Early Voting period for an election in Texas typically lasts 12 days. Election Day is typically at least a 12-hour day.

Becoming a poll worker in Collin County is as easy as 1, 2, 3:

1. Complete and submit the below Poll Worker Application Form.
2. Upon completion of the Poll Worker Application Form, your information will be submitted to the Collin County Elections Office. The Elections Office will review your information and provide it to a Presiding Election Judge for a polling location that is in the area that you specified on the application.
3. If there is a need for a poll worker in the area specified on your Poll Worker Application Form, you will be contacted by the Presiding Election Judge to determine interest in working at their specific polling location.

• Poll Worker Application Form
• Student Worker Application Form

After you’ve been contacted by a Presiding Judge and are confirmed to be working at a specific polling location, please complete and sign the election worker New Hire Form and provide us with copies of the two (2) forms of ID as outlined on the New Hire Form. When we receive your completed and signed New Hire Form and the copies of the two (2) forms of ID, we record that it has been received. We then deliver it to our Human Resources Department so that they can create your election worker profile in the payroll system. You may submit the New Hire Form and copies of ID in person at our office, through the mail, or electronically.

• Election Worker New Hire Form

The Human Resources Department will enter your name into the payroll system AS IT APPEARS ON YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY CARD. If the name on your Social Security Card is NOT the name in which you want your check issued, you must apply for and then provide us with a copy of your new Social Security Card in the correct name.

It may take the Human Resources Department several days to create your payroll profile, depending on how many new election workers they have to process. Once your profile is created, we can enter the time that you worked at the polling location. Collin County payroll checks are issued every other week (Payroll Schedule), and checks will be mailed to the home address that you provided on the New Hire Form. Unfortunately, election workers do not have the option at this time to be set up for Direct Deposit.

If you need to change the name in which your check is issued, simply provide a copy of your new Social Security Card, reflecting the updated name.

If you need to change your address after your payroll profile is created, please complete, sign, and submit the Election Worker Change of Address Form.

If you work Early Voting, you will need to complete an Early Voting Timesheet AND the Statement of Compensation and Oath Form. It is very important that you provide your name on both forms as it appears on your Social Security Card.

If you only work Election Day, you only need to complete the Statement of Compensation and Oath Form, but must provide your name as it appears on your Social Security Card.

If you provide your name as something other than what is listed on your Social Security Card, we may have difficulty matching you to the name in the payroll system and your check will be delayed.

If you do not receive your paycheck, please email or call Allyson Hall, the Polling Place/Judges Coordinator. If your check was lost in the mail, the Elections Department cannot issue you a new one – we will contact the County Treasury Department to stop payment on the check that was issued, and they will re-issue you a new check.

Election workers are in a unique tax withholding status, as outlined in the IRS Tax Code. No Federal or FICA taxes are withheld if you earn less than $2,300. Once you earn $2,300, FICA taxes (Social Security and Medicare) will be taken out for the full amount of taxes due on the $2,3​00. The County does not allow election workers to complete a W-4 Form to withhold extra taxes.

If you earn more than $600, you will receive a W-2 Form at the end of the year. You will not receive a W-2 Form at the end of the year if you earn less than $600.

We provide two types of training classes before each election. We offer hands-on Training Labs that are designed to be a come-and-go opportunity for you to see how a polling location is laid out, to work with pollbooks and voting equipment at your own pace, and to get questions answered by experienced election judges. We usually offer at least one week of Training Labs before each election.

We also offer separate Early Voting Pollbook, Early Voting Election Law Classes, Election Day Pollbook, and Election Day Law Classes before each election. These classes are held at specific times and last for approximately 3 hours combined. Your Presiding Judge will provide you with a flyer of the dates and times of training opportunities, or you may contact Allyson Hall ​to send one to you.