LESLIE FOREMAN: And I am making the assumption that you have a passing familiarity with the forms.

BILLY SHIELDS: At this Chesterfield Training Center elections manager Leslie Foreman goes through the scenarios for elections volunteers on when to issue provisional ballots.

LESLIE FOREMAN: If the voter comes in to present themselves to vote and its going to show that they voted already, there's really no way that we can manage and figure out how that happened on Election Day.

That's when those provisional ballots come into play.

BILLY SHIELDS: And with a much anticipated election on its way, she says the number of volunteers has exploded.

There are about a dozen volunteers in this session.

Sometimes this room has 60.

LESLIE FOREMAN: I don't have a percentage, but it would be that I would get no applications for a week or two.

And now I can go into my inbox and have 15 or 20 overnight.

BILLY SHIELDS: Oh wow.

LESLIE FOREMAN: so a considerable expansion.

BILLY SHIELDS: Sanjay Rajput has been doing this for about eight years.

SANJAY RAJPUT: And as people got more concerned about the integrity of the elections, I wanted to make sure that I had a good answer to the folks who said they didn't trust how the election processes were run.

So I wanted to be a part of that and make sure that the process was running smoothly.

BILLY SHIELDS: Foreman used a variety of scenarios, including what would happen if Pharrell Williams came to vote, but was listed as having already done so.

LESLIE FOREMAN: The end of the day, the goal of everybody is to make sure that those voters have the chance to vote.

And there are just a lot of little “what if this” or “what if that,” and if they moved just little things that can impact exactly how that particular situation is addressed.

BILLY SHIELDS: Rajput says the popularity of early voting has meant that there's less of a crush on election day, making it easier on volunteers to be able to carry out their work to ensure the fairness of the system.

SANJAY RAJPUT: I feel proud to be at the forefront, you know?

I'm one of the people ensuring that the integrity of the election is sound, right?

It takes everyone to make sure that this is going to be done right, and being able to say ‘I was a part of that, makes me proud.

BILLY SHIELDS: Early in-person voting runs through November 2nd and Chesterfield.

Election day is November 5th.

Billy Shields, VPM News.