Bring this training to your group
If you can bring a group together, we will come to you. We are glad to organize a session for congregations, community and neighborhood organizations, service clubs, unions, student groups, senior centers, and any other group whose members want to understand how elections here are run. You provide the group and a room; we bring the training.
We work with groups across the political spectrum and bring the same nonpartisan training to all of them. To ask about a session for your group, use the contact at the bottom of this page.
Signing up on your own? Register for one of the scheduled sessions below.
Register Below
Curious about how elections really work? The Trained Election Observer Program is a free, approximately three-hour, strictly nonpartisan session run by Contra Costa County's Elections Division. You will learn how elections in Contra Costa County are administered, how ballots are counted and secured, and how members of the public can observe the process. It is open to everyone regardless of party or political views, and the training does not favor any party, candidate, or measure.
This is a pilot program and represents a shorter version of the county's full Certified Election Observer training, which has been offered at the Elections Division office in Martinez since 2022. It covers the same ground in a single session, with evening and weekend times aimed at making the program more accessible to more residents of Contra Costa County. You can read about the county's existing Certified Election Observer program at secure-election.org/observe.
A facilitator leads the session using video materials from the county's Certified Election Observer program and guides discussion with the group. You will also receive training materials to take home.
These sessions are also part of a study run with the University of California to learn about the program. Taking part in the research is voluntary and separate from the training. See About the research below.
Can't make any of these dates or times? and we will reach out with other opportunities.
About the research
The Trained Election Observer Program is a pilot run by the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder-Elections Department. Researchers at the University of California are working with the county to study this shorter version of the Certified Election Observer program and learn whether it is effective.
If you attend, you may be asked to complete a short, confidential survey. Participation in the research is voluntary, your answers are kept confidential, and you can take the training whether or not you take part in the study.
Questions about the research: Professor Susan Hyde, University of California, hyde@berkeley.edu.