September 12, 2025

Dear County and District Superintendents, Charter School Administrators, and High School Principals:

Schools as Voting Locations and Student Poll Workers

We are respectfully requesting your help to address the dire need for voting locations and poll workers for the upcoming election. By offering your campuses as voting locations and your students as poll workers, we believe this will greatly contribute to the November 4, 2025, Statewide Special Election being a success.

Public School Campuses as Voting Locations

Your local elections official might ask you to make your public school campus available for use as a voting location. We hope you will honor this request. The law allows you to decide how best to comply with the request to meet the needs of your community.

Three options are available under Elections Code Section 12283: (1) leave the school open and in session while a specific area of the school is designated as a voting location or vote center; (2) designate the day(s) as a staff training and development day; or (3) choose to close the school to students and non-classified employees.

Local elections officials are encouraged to make these requests early enough for your school board to consider the options before school calendars are printed and distributed to parents. If your school agrees to participate, please contact your local elections office to inform them of your decision to offer your school as a voting location or vote center.

High School Students as Poll Workers

According to many county elections officials, high school students are often the most helpful and enthusiastic poll workers. Students who serve as poll workers report that they have the advantage of learning about the importance of participating in elections before they are eligible to vote.

High school students who are at least 16 years of age, are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents, and maintain a grade point average of at least 2.5 on a 4.0 scale may serve as poll workers. While serving as a poll worker qualifies as an excused absence, absences for the entire school day are not included in the average daily attendance used to generate apportionment funding.

We encourage you to make every effort to adjust your calendars to accommodate the use of your campuses as voting locations for the November 4, 2025, Statewide Special Election. We would also be grateful if you would assist your local elections officials by actively identifying high school students who can serve as poll workers. This is a valuable opportunity for students to be civically engaged and support the elections process. Some county elections officials may offer a stipend for poll workers. Our agencies and staff are available to assist you in any way we can to support this special request from your local elections official.

If you have any questions about this request, please contact Jannell Jackson, Deputy Secretary of State for Voter Education and Outreach, at SoSOutreach@sos.ca.qov or 916-584-3538 or the California Department of Education’s High School Innovations and Initiatives Office at 916-319-0893 or HSIIO@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Tony Thurmond
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
California Department of Education

Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D.
California Secretary of State

TT/SW:df