Three Creative Ways to Attract Enough Poll Workers to Handle this Election

First, they can recruit 16 and 17-year-old volunteers. Some states have already started programs in select counties that target this demographic, including as Indiana, New York, and Tennessee.

The younger poll worker initiatives generally require students to meet certain standards, such as permission from teachers, principals, and parents as well as maintaining a certain grade point average.

There is an entire generation of younger Americans that would likely serve as poll workers if administrators can reach them. BPC Elections Task Force Member Sherry Poland, Director of the Board of Elections of Hamilton County Ohio, describes the importance of their state youth program, or Youth at The Booth, saying “In Ohio, 17- & 18-year old high school seniors are eligible to work the polls. In Hamilton County, Ohio, we have had an extremely successful Youth at the Booth Program.

The younger generation’s familiarity with today’s technology coupled with their adult counterpart’s experience, makes the perfect poll worker team.” Election administrators can build from these examples and tailor programs to their needs. If we can get to them early, these 16 and 17-year olds could become poll workers for life!

Second, states should consider amending laws to allow noncitizens to volunteer. It is already happening in a few states. In California, legal residents (green card holders) can be poll workers if the only thing barring them from registering to vote is their citizenship status. In addition, while Washington and Oregon are fully mail voting states and very few traditional poll workers are used, there is no law stating that poll workers must be citizens. Offering this opportunity to noncitizens could help fill gaps for election officials.

Finally, public-private partnerships on poll workers should be used to fill gaps in November. Seeing the growing need for poll workers in the low-risk category, some companies are offering their employees as a resource for election administrators. Companies such as Target, Warby Parker, and Starbucks have partnered with the Power The Polls initiative to help recruit poll workers, and some companies are even offering their employees paid time off if they agree to volunteer at their respective precincts.

There are some jurisdictions in Florida such as Orange County that run programs for partnerships with nonprofits called “adopt-a-precinct” when an organization can partner with a particular precinct and provide it with staffing, and the supervisor of elections write the check directly to the organization as opposed to individual poll workers. Bill Cowles, The Supervisor of Elections for Orange County, states “Our Adopt-a-Precinct program” provides schools, youth groups, community and civic organizations the opportunity to serve their community on Election Day, while earning funds they can reinvest in the community.  They bring us professional and youthful workers who understand teamwork and are tech savvy. Once they start they become community ambassadors of the Election process. We value the partnership we have with all of our Adopt-A-Precinct organizations.”

Local government employees and contractors may also be an option. Some localities deploy full-time staff from across departments to serve as poll workers on election day. In Cuyahoga County, Ohio the county council passed a resolution that would allow government employees to not only receive paid leave at their usual rates but also to receive poll worker pay.

Other effective partnerships have been utilized as well to provide more support at in-person polling places. The National Guard was activated in Wisconsin for the past three elections this year in order to assist in staffing polling locations. This program proved to be a great help in their first April primary, and was used moving forward.