IEBC is mandated with the role of carrying out elections in Kenya . IEBC employs assistant during the election period to help them carry out the election effectively. Polling clerks are hired on a temporary contact by the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission to help in elections in a polling station .
Polling clerks report to the presiding officer who is based in the polling station. The presiding officer on the other hand gives out instructions to the polling clerks .
With Kenya approaching the General elections , many Kenyans are rushing to apply for positions such as polling clerks.
Qualification for polling clerks include;
- One must be a legal Kenyan citizen with a level of integrity and non-partisan .
- One must attain a mean grade of C- and above in kCSE.
- One must be a resident of the ward where the polling centre he/she applied to be a polling clerk is located .
- One must posses good communicating skills since he/she will be helping voters who are illiterate to vote for their preferred candidate.
- One must be available during the period of elections in the respective polling centre .
- One must be posses a good character .
- One must be polite and show professionalism when handling voters.
The polling clerks have the following roles ;
- Marking of voters as proof of voting .
- Helping of the presiding officers in sorting and counting of ballots.
- Assisting the presiding officer in stamping and issuing ballot papers to voters .
- Management of question and directing voters to the right places .
- Preparing and arranging the polling and counting rooms .
- Ensuring a smooth flow of voters at the respective polling station.
- Assisting the presiding officer to set up the polling station before the actual day of voting.
- The also assist the voters where possible mostly the illiterate ones who need help.
- Setting up and arranging the polling station to ensure order during the voting process.
- They also keep the polling station clean at all times during the election.
- Verifying the details of voters in the register . The details are the voter’s name , National ID and the voter’s card number.
- They also make sure the voters rights to vote are upheld and the voting is secret.
- The polling clerks also may perfom any duty given to them bt the Presiding officer.