County election officials continue to recruit, but confident they’ll have enough poll workers

Image: Election Assistance Commission

The upcoming General Election is shaping up to be a historic one.

Vice President Kamala Harris has replaced Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket and could become the first woman and second person of color to serve as president.

At the top of the Republican ticket, former President Donald Trump is vying for a second presidential term, seeking to reclaim the White House after his 2020 defeat. Trump has yet to acknowledge the loss and bitterly contends the 2020 election was stolen without providing proof.

The outcome of the presidential race will help to shape local and state election outcomes across America. So, a lot is at stake, and hundreds of thousands of people are needed to work the polls to ensure elections are fair and safe, particularly after the hotly contested 2020 race.

On Aug. 1, National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) will launch a massive social media blitz to encourage citizens to sign up to work the polls. The day was established by the EAC in 2020 to raise awareness about the importance of poll work. During the pandemic, many elderly poll workers decided against serving due to health concerns.

As reported by Stateline, Power the Polls, a leading nonpartisan group in the poll worker recruitment, is “tracking more than 1,835 jurisdictions, spanning all 50 states and the District of Columbia, that the group identified through outreach to election administrators, monitoring local news and working with on-the-ground partners.”

Power the Polls was launched in June 2020 by a coalition of businesses and nonprofits, including Civic Alliance, Civic Responsibility Project, Comedy Central, Fair Elections Center, Pizza to the Polls, MTV Entertainment Group and Center for Secure & Modern Elections. The organization recruited over 700,000 potential poll workers in 2020 and over 275,000 potential poll workers in 2022.

“With safety top-of-mind and now an anticipated increase in voter enthusiasm/turnout, the need for poll workers continues to be essential,” Power the Polls said in a news release. “At least one million poll workers will be needed nationally to ensure these elections are safe, fair and accessible to all eligible voters.”

In North Carolina counties, Power the Polls identified Cumberland, Durham, Mecklenburg and Wake as counties that are in “urgent need of poll workers ahead of election day.” There is a particular need for people who are comfortable using iPads and tablets at the polls and bilingual poll workers, Power the Polls said in a news release.

Three of the four North Carolina elections directors in counties identified by Power the Polls told NC Newsline that they are confident they’ll have enough poll workers to ensure smooth elections.

And all three said a big challenge has been finding enough Republicans to work the polls.

“Our biggest recruitment efforts are toward Republicans and unaffiliated voters because for whatever reason, the Republican Party and a lot of unaffiliated voters just don’t work the precincts,” said Mitzie Roberts, an administrative professional with the Cumberland County Board of Elections.

Roberts is about 150 workers shy of the 770 she hopes to have in place before the election.

“We have 77 precincts and our goals has been to have 10 people in each precinct,” Roberts said. “We do not need 10 people in  some of our precincts but our theory is if we overstaff for when life happens and we need to move somebody, we would have that spare individual that we could move without compromising another precinct.”

In Durham, Derek Bowens, Director of Elections, reported similar numbers to the ones Roberts shared, but stressed that the county is not “struggling to find poll workers.”

“We’re recruiting and sending out some mailers to our constituencies in Durham and working to grow our student assistance program,” Bowens said. “We welcome applicants because we need as many people as we can get but I wouldn’t say that we’re struggling.”

Bowens said that ideally, the county will have 777 people available to work the county’s 56 precincts for the upcoming election. That number, he said, includes the 20 people who make up the county’s emergency pool who are used to fill vacancies. Currently, there are 554 people who have said they are available to work on Election Day, Bowens said.

“Those are high numbers because we tend to over project what we need in each in each precinct in an expectation that we will have a number of dropoutsm,” Bowens said.

He noted that in 2020, the county only had a 7.9% turnout on Election Day because 68% of voters voted early or absentee by mail due to the pandemic.

“We generally expect a slower Election Day because of early voting usage,” Bowens said. “In some precincts we have 15 [poll workers scheduled to work] but if we get down to 10, then that’s actually OK.”

In heavily Democratic Durham County, Bowens said the county struggles to find Republican poll workers and have begun sending “direct mailers to Republican voters to gauge their interest.”

In Mecklenburg County, Elections Director Michael Dickerson said his county is in “really good shape” as election day approaches.

“We always keep looking [for poll workers] but I have a data base of about 5,000 workers that we pull off of and we always try to refresh it with more people,” Dickerson said. I think the state just sent me a list of about 300 more people who want to work, so we keep incorporating those in. As some come in, some fall off.”

Dickerson said he expects to have about 3,000 workers in precincts on Election Day.

“There’s a very civic-minded group down here in Charlotte and Mecklenburg County,” Dickerson said. “We’re where we want to be right now.”

Meanwhile, in Wake County, there are 214 precincts and more than over 2,000 poll worker positions to fill. The Wake County GOP recently reported that there was an increase of 27 Republican workers in 2023 “indicating progress in bolstering the staffing of key positions critical for upholding the integrity of the ballot.” NC Newsline could not reach a Wake County elections spokesperson before this story was published.

To qualify to work as an election official in North Carolina, an applicant must be a registered voter who resides in the precinct where they wish to serve. To serve as an election worker on Election Day, you must be a registered voter or be a high school student who is at least 17 years old and in good academic standing (this does not apply to early voting). Check your voter registration status with the Voter Search.

Precinct officials may not be a candidate or relative of a candidate in the election. They also may not be an elected government official, hold office with a political party, or be a manager or treasurer for a candidate or political party. They also may not serve at the same polling place as a spouse, child, spouse of a child, sister, or brother.

While 48 states and the District of Columbia use in-person voting, requirements vary widely – even for poll workers serving different roles in the same precinct. But some similarities emerge. Here is what the Pew Research Center found:

• All states have minimum age requirements, most often set at 18, but many allow students as young as 16 to serve under certain limitations.

• Forty-one states, plus D.C., explicitly require volunteers to be registered voters. In Minnesota, North Dakota and Wisconsin, they must at least be eligible to vote.

• Every state but Hawaii – where voting primarily takes place by mail – has explicit residency requirements. States often mandate that poll workers reside in the county or precinct of the polling place, but many allow some flexibility for outsiders if there are volunteer shortages.

• Poll workers are explicitly required to have a party affiliation in at least nine states. In about half of the 48 states that offer in-person voting, it’s “considered,” “preferred” or “generally” required unless there aren’t enough volunteers who affiliate with a major party. Some states – such as New York – require poll workers or election officials to equally represent the two major political parties, depending on the worker’s position.

• The vast majority of states require poll workers to undergo trainings, which are commonly held at the local level.

• At least 37 states, plus D.C., require at least some poll workers in certain positions to swear an oath.