Clerks office seeking additional poll workers for primary

James Mayse, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky.
·2 min read

Apr. 8—The Daviess County Clerk's office is seeking 20 additional poll workers to man voting centers during next month's primary election.

The primary is scheduled for May 16. Daviess County Clerk Leslie McCarty said the office needs 20 additional Republican Party members to serve as poll workers. The county already has the required number of poll workers from the Democratic Party, McCarty said.

McCarty said the office has had a difficult time recruiting poll workers for the primary for a variety of reasons.

"Graduations happen around this time, and school safety is an issue," McCarty said. Although there haven't been as issues with polling places at schools in the county, McCarty said she has lost poll workers who were reluctant to work voting centers at schools.

"Even though we've never had an issue, people are concerned about safety at the polls," McCarty said.

The county will have 14 voting centers for the primary, including Daviess County Middle School and Mary Carrico Catholic School. McCarty said all of the voting centers in the city will have sheriff's deputies posted, and that others will be monitored by patrol deputies.

The GOP primary ballot includes a heavily contested race for the nomination for governor, along with races for secretary of state, auditor of public accounts, commissioner of agriculture and state treasurer. Democrats will also have primaries for governor and for ag commissioner.

McCarty said while a lack of poll workers won't force the office to revamp its elections plan, not having enough workers could result in delays on Primary day.

"People will have to have more patience" if there are lines to vote, McCarty said.

Poll workers from both parties are needed at each voting center. Poll workers check in voters on the county's electronic poll books, make sure voters get the correct ballots, check that ballots are correctly entered into ballot scanners and keep voting moving smoothly.

Republicans interested in being poll workers should call the clerk's office at 270-685-8434. Poll workers will have to go through training, which is scheduled for the end of April and the beginning of May.

"They'll have to pick a date to go to poll worker training," McCarty said.