Poll workers needed in Georgia before November election

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - At Mountain Park in Lilburn, training took place for two dozen poll workers gearing up for the November 8 midterms.

And with just more than a month until election day, Gwinnett County is still seeking more than 600 poll workers to make sure everything runs smoothly.

Marianne Van Name is a poll worker who said finding good help hasn’t been easy.

“Prior to the pandemic I think that we were well staffed but there are a lot of volunteers or workers that said I’m not doing this anymore. I’m not coming back. And we have I would say a significant number of our precinct officials that are retired,” Van Name said.

2022 Georgia midterm elections coverage

Gwinnett County election officials are offering prospective poll workers hundreds of dollars to work on election day. A similar recruiting tool is being used in other metro counties as well.

“You’re only required to work one day if you want to volunteer to be a poll official and the incentives will be a front-row seat to the voting process and giving back to your community. You can also earn anywhere from $75 to $350 for that one day,” Gwinnett County Assistant Elections Supervisor Shantell Black said.

While most metro counties are confident that they have enough workers to manage a smooth voting process, if there are shortages on election day, you can expect long lines and delays.

“We have backup plans. If there’s anybody who doesn’t show up, we promote up. If we promote up and still need to fill vacancies, we have staff internally who can go out to the polling locations to assist,” Black said.

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