Poll workers report high confidence in Buncombe County elections, raise parking and paperwork concerns

Poll workers in Buncombe County reported strong confidence in election integrity and positive experiences with training and staffing, county election officials said at the Board of Elections meeting on May 19.

Election staff presented early-voting and election-day survey results showing an approximately 78% response rate for early-voting poll workers and about 59% for election-day workers. The early-voting survey showed that zero respondents disagreed with the statement that they had “a better understanding of how an election works and feel confident about election integrity in Buncombe County,” staff said. The office reported an overall improvement in satisfaction scores: 4.74 out of five in 2026 versus 4.57 in 2024.

The surveys found most workers serve from a sense of civic duty; pay was cited more often in 2026 (about 25%) than in 2024 (about 21%). Staff said the vendor that handles onboarding, Spirion, received 94% positive feedback for the onboarding experience, though workers described the paperwork as lengthy (roughly 20 pages). Helpline performance dipped during an evening peak (around 7:05 p.m.), producing slower response times on some nights, staff noted.

Workers suggested practical improvements such as better parking at some sites (North Asheville and South Buncombe library locations were singled out), clearer sample-ballot access (staff plan to use QR codes at training), and more emphasis in training on provisional ballots and end-of-day procedures. Staff also said they will add page numbers to the Photo ID manual addendum and make other small manual edits to reduce confusion.

Why it matters: Strong poll-worker morale and training help maintain election operations during high-demand periods. Staff said the survey results will guide recruitment, training changes, and site logistics ahead of the fall general election.

Staff will post the full survey comments for board review and use the feedback as they finalize the early-voting plan and training schedule in the summer.