Elections Ontario looks to fill thousands of staff jobs before June 7 vote

With two weeks left until voters cast ballots, Elections Ontario is still looking to fill thousands of temporary jobs in dozens of ridings throughout the province.

The agency needs "anywhere between 50 and 100 people" in up to 25 electoral districts, a spokesperson for Elections Ontario said in an email.

"We are hiring for various positions, while roles have been filled for advanced voting we are looking to hire more staff for election day itself," said Cara Des Granges, a communications co-ordinator for Elections Ontario.

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Advanced voting is scheduled to run from May 26 to May 30, while election day is set for June 7. Polls will be open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on election day.

According to Des Granges, unfilled positions currently include poll clerks, polling day revision assistants who are responsible for manually updating the list of electors and information assistants. While most jobs require applicants to be at least 18 years old, information assistants can be as young as 16.

Salaries for the open jobs range from $15.60 per hour up to $26 per hour.

During the 2014 provincial election, Elections Ontario hired some 77,000 staff for the electoral period. While there are 17 additional ridings to account for in 2018, only about 55,000 staff will be needed. Des Granges attributed the decrease to new technologies, such as e-poll books and vote tabulators, that will be rolled out this year.