Reviving this, sorry if that's not ok, but as to the poll workers:
over here (Belgium), it's not volunteers. You get summoned

Kind of like Jury Duty. They mostly look to people already working in administration.
As for their training... what training? 'You ask for their passport and Voting Document (which gets mailed beforehand), you find them on the list, check them off, stamp the document after voting, and you're done!'
Voting here is mandatory, it's on a free day (sunday), and we mostly vote in schools. The fact that it's mandatory and they therefore know exactly how many people to expect in each district, helps a lot.
Those that do have to work can get a 'get out of voting' paper from work, or, and this helps a lot as well, can give someone else the power to vote in their stead.
The only time I can ever remember waiting for half an hour, was when they had just switched to computers instead of paper. Rest of the years we just stroll in, vote, stroll back out.
Results are ready and in the news the very next morning.