Sometimes, aides get on the floor of polling places with blue painter's tape to lay out arrows pointing voters toward the right direction.
"They really like the fact that there's this younger generation handing out 'I voted' stickers, making sure that the signs are posted and that the tables are lined up," Zelaya said. The student aides are part of Future Vote, a program that Gilberto Zelaya, the community engagement and public relations officer for the county's board of elections, started in 2004 in part to help out the workers stationed at polling places. Local teenagers ages 16 and up can serve as poll workers, and kids as young as sixth graders can volunteer as aides to poll workers the night before and on Election Day, when the county's public schools are not in session. In the suburbs of Washington, D.C., Maryland's Montgomery County Board of Elections has been focused on younger demographic groups. initiative it used to promote poll working among lawyers and law students for the 2020 elections.Īmanda Andrade-Rhoades for NPR Oulimata Toure and Codou Wade-Drakeford sign up to work the polls for the midterm elections in Maryland's Montgomery County.
The American Bar Association is also trying to tap into its professional networks by bringing back the Poll Worker, Esq. "I think a lot of veterans and military family members would feel the same way about helping to continue to protect and serve the institutions and the process that we wore a uniform to support in our previous lives," Nathan said. Air Force captain co-founded the nonprofit organization We the Veterans, which has started a new project called Vet the Vote to encourage former service members to work at polling sites. "After 2020, we are now seeing an increased level of threats towards election officials and workers, which, of course, causes concern and hesitation for those who may want to serve."įor Anil Nathan, though, it's a source of motivation. "This is an unfortunate factor," said New Jersey Secretary of State Tahesha Way, president of the National Association of Secretaries of State. facing an unprecedented level of scrutiny - along with harassment - driven by election deniers. "I have to put forth the effort in helping to make change so he has a better life."īut making a call to serve can be tricky in 2022 with election officials and workers in many parts of the U.S. "I have a son, and he's African American," Tullonge says about why she's interested in becoming a poll worker for the first time. Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for NPR Ruel Michelin talks to Keisha Tullonge about becoming an election worker at a recruiting table at the Westfield Wheaton Mall in Wheaton, Md.