The Role of a Polling Clerk in Kenya

The major role of a Polling Clerk in Kenya is to ensure the good conduct of elections in the polling station as assigned by the Presiding Officer.

The polling clerk is in charge of elections in a polling station in Kenya. The Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission employs Polling Clerks on a temporary basis during elections.

The Polling Clerk is answerable to the Presiding Officer in the performance of their work. The Polling Clerk may perform any other duty assigned by the Returning Officer at the tallying centre.

Role of a Polling Clerk in Kenya

The role of a Polling Clerk in Kenya is as follows;

• prepare the polling station for polling day. The Clerk–
  • sets up and demarcates the polling station;
  • ensures the polling place is clean and tidy; and
  • sets up polling booths.
• verifies the voter’s name and ID (and voter’s card number) in the voters’ register;
• identifies a voter electronically. This involves checking and marking the names of voters in the voters’ register;
• issues ballot papers to voters;
• marks voters to show that they have voted;
• ensure the security of election materials under their custody;
• manages queues and directs voters to respective polling stations.
• puts up signs, statutory notices, and voter instructions, and make sure they are visible;
• ensures that voters vote in secret and place their ballot papers in the (correct) ballot box.
• performs any other polling station duties assigned by the Presiding Officer.

Qualifications for a Polling Clerk

The qualifications for a Polling Clerk in Kenya include the following:

• an aggregate score of C- and above in KSCE;
• must be of good character and non-partisan;
• must be available the entire period of the elections;
• must have good communication abilities;
• when interacting with voters, must use professionalism and courtesy.;
• must be a resident of the Ward where the polling centre applied for is located.

Read also about the types of elections in Kenya.