Shortage of Poll Workers Leads Many States to Scramble for Solutions

By Frankie Rodriguez

October 8, 2020

Many states are facing a shortage of poll workers for the upcoming 2020 Presidential election. Much of this is due to the fact that many older poll workers are dropping out or quitting their jobs as poll workers for fear of being at risk of contracting COVID-19.

Pew Research Center found that 56 percent of poll workers in 2016 were 61 years old or older. With 92 percent of people who died of the virus in mid-April being over 55 years old, it is no mystery why so many older poll workers are rapidly dropping out of this upcoming election.

Many local and state governments are now scrambling to recruit as many workers as possible in order to have enough people to work in the upcoming election. Back in July of this year, the State of Maryland announced that they were facing a shortage of over 14,000 poll workers. This alarming number of workers needed for the upcoming election is prompting many states to change some of their rules. Tennessee, for example, recently passed legislation which will drop the required poll worker age from 17 to 16, allowing many young adults to work at polling places this year. Likewise, Montgomery County is encouraging young people to get out and work in the polls through a program called FutureVote. This program was founded in 2004 to recruit high school students and other young adults at the polls.

Alice Miller from the DC Board of Elections proposed that, like for the primary, every single registered voter in the state should be sent a ballot in the mail. Miller’s reasoning goes as follows: if there are more people voting from home, then there will be fewer people voting in-person at the polls, meaning less demand for poll workers.