Exercised the franchise here in West Oxon as lunch time. Steady stream of voters. LibDem and Labour tellers outside cheerfully cooperating on taking poll card numbers so as not to hold people up. Tory teller sitting on his folding chair six feet away, looking down at his clipboard.
They’re party reps who sit outside polling stations and take your electoral number when you’ve voted. They cross it off a list so you’re not contacted again for the GOTV op and they can see you’re a regular voter for future elections.
Here, they usually don’t interact with voters. They (one R, one D) usually stand behind the election judge checking you in & note your info, then that’s sent to party. And if you vote early, esp, you might never get the call to “pls go vote” that parties start making in afternoon.
Typically, yes, they sit behind the check-in desk so they can hear the names. They can only observe, they can’t shill.
There are also from both (all) parties who stand outside & hand out sample ballots to voters entering, if voter wants one. Same tho, they can’t shill, just hand out paper.