With Seniors Staying Home, Young People Needed to Fill Poll Worker Shortage

Many "traditional" poll workers are seniors who are sitting the 2020 election out because they are highly vulnerable to COVID-19, and organizations are recruiting young people to make up the shortfall, reports CBS 8 . One such group is the Fair Elections Center, and President Bob Brandon said "it becomes even more important because of the pandemic taking many traditional poll workers who are older out of the system." The Fair Elections Center this year is participating in Power the Polls, a program that seeks to recruit 250,000 new poll workers, and attracts big companies that often influence and hire young people, like Comedy Central and Starbucks. Power the Polls estimates that the United States is facing a record shortage of poll workers and needs roughly 250,000 more nationwide to keep up. "Some of it is just a matter of convincing people who have never done this before that it's a good thing to do," said Brandon. Poll worker positions can be a hard sell for young people, given the time commitment and dealing with disgruntled voters waiting in line. Yet according to Brandon, "when they actually do this for the first time, they find it very rewarding."