It probably varies from state to state. In ours, poll workers are a combination of minor elected officials and volunteers. The payment to volunteers for their service is minimal. Theoretically, there should be representation by both major parties at each poll, but in practice they don't seem to 'find' enough R's, and the group may be tilted to D. Again, the left seems to have endless resources to chase down all these points of influence, running their people for election judge positions and soliciting volunteers through their larger network. It seems like in our community R's tend to be busy working and D's have lots of spare time. It's like an ongoing in-group dynamic with them and becomes their social life and sense of belonging. The R's are treated like the misfits in high school who never get invited to anything, and are routinely denigrated. The D's are the popular kids who hang together, buy pizza for the election judge, and treat election day like one big party.