College students targeted as poll workers

By Deborah Barfield Berry of Newsday - Washington

With fewer than 50 days until Nov. 2, and faced with a critical shortage of trained poll workers, federal and state election officials plan to expand the pool by turning to college students.

The federal Elections Assistance Commission will award $750,000 in grants this month to universities, faith-based organizations and nonpartisan groups aimed at recruiting college students as paid poll workers.

“In many ways, it's always been a pressing issue…but there are so many changes going on,” said Ray Martinez, a commissioner. “We want to have people who are trained properly and we want to have enough poll workers.”

At least 2 million poll workers and judges are needed for the upcoming election compared with 1.4 million in 2000, said federal election officials.

To help fill the gap, officials hope to recruit workers through corporate volunteer programs and colleges. The workers will staff nearly 200,000 polling places, with as many as three to four workers at each site.
“It happens throughout the country that there are not people who are volunteering,” Rebecca Vigil-Giron, president of the National Association of Secretaries of State, said at a commission hearing this week.
Election officials have long struggled to get enough poll workers, but say they are more pressed this year to have a trained work force because voters in several states will cast ballots on high-tech machines and face new rules under the 2002 Help America Vote Act.

The law, which was passed in the wake of the 2000 election controversies, was created to improve election systems.

The average age of a poll worker is 70, said election officials. Many are undereducated and unemployed. While older poll workers have been reliable, election officials say they could use younger workers less intimidated by new technology, such as electronic voting machines.

“It's crucial that we work now to identify a new pool of poll workers with a sufficient educational background and knowledge of computers and technology,” said Vigil-Giron, who also serves as New Mexico's secretary of state.

But state and federal election officials acknowledge the challenge of recruiting young adults. Polls show that young adults are less likely to vote and get involved in politics. “We think if we can get more college students working at the polls, we can get more college students going to the polls,” said DeForest Soaries Jr., commission chairman.

A survey of colleges released this week by Harvard University's Institute of Politics and The Chronicle of Higher Education found that political activities are happening on campuses but that many colleges are not complying with the federal higher education law requiring voter registration efforts.
Martinez said the effort to recruit college poll workers was slow to get underway because the agency has been struggling to get federal funding and staff.

Still, he said, the commission is confident the groups can recruit enough students to help.