Poll worker needs ranked critical in Washington, Westmoreland, Fayette counties
Westmoreland County, as well as Fayette and Washington counties, face an uphill battle when it comes to recruiting poll workers for the presidential election this fall, researchers found.
A study produced by Boston-based bipartisan nonprofit The Voter Protection Corps and Carnegie Mellon University found the counties were among 15 across Pennsylvania likely to face a critical shortage of poll workers.
Researchers looked at a combination of census and election data from 2016-18 to study election needs. They created a tool and ranked the level of need counties face for poll workers for the Nov. 3 election in eight states: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.
“We developed this tool to help prioritize voter protection efforts through a data-driven approach,” said Rayid Ghani, a CMU professor and Voter Protection Corps’ chief data scientist. “It identifies supply-and-demand gaps in voting resources and highlights concrete actions that leaders should take, such as to begin recruiting poll workers ‘immediately.’ “
Experts say it’s critical to ensure smooth balloting in what many believe will be the most contentious presidential race in modern history.
While Fayette, Washington and Westmoreland were ranked among counties with the most critical need for poll workers, Allegheny County ranked with counties in the second tier of need. Armstrong and Indiana counties were among the third tier where need was less critical.
Sean Kertes, chairman of Westmoreland’s board of commissioners, wasn’t surprised the county was included in the critical need category in Pennsylvania. He said filling the 1,600 to 1,800 poll positions in 307 precincts is always a challenge. This spring, it was a constant battle in the county, where about a third of the roughly 350,000 residents are 60 or older and considered at heightened risk for covid-19.
Scott Sistek, the county’s interim Election Bureau director, said many retirees who typically serve as election inspectors and judges of elections quit last spring due to health concerns. He said filling vacancies in Alle-Kiski Valley communities from Vandergrift to New Kensington was his toughest challenge.
“We’d get two people in, then two more people would quit. It got to the point where we were working hard, making cold calls from the voter registration list to recruit poll workers,” Sistek said.
Bob LaRocca, president of the Voter Protection Corps, said the spring primary illustrated the importance of maintaining and staffing local polls.
While Westmoreland ultimately staffed all of its precincts, Allegheny County consolidated polls under a special exception granted because of the pandemic. Instead of its usual 1,300 local polls, the county staffed only 200, leaving voters to navigate a new landscape and, in some cases, long lines.
Although turnout in Allegheny County exceeded projections, with about 210,000 voters sending in mail ballots and 101,000 voting at polls, that was not the case elsewhere.
Researchers at the Voter Protection Corps said voter turnout in Philadelphia and Milwaukee illustrate the impact of poll consolidation. Both cities closed the majority of their polling places. In Milwaukee, voter turnout was 37% lower than in 2016, although Wisconsin’s statewide rate declined only 4%. In Philadelphia, turnout was down 30% from 2016, compared to 5% statewide.
“Even if you have vote by mail, there will still be some large groups — African Americans and young people — who will vote in person,” LaRocca said. “We still have to keep polls open or it will lead to voter suppression.”
While all polls must be staffed, the requirements for staffing and selecting poll workers vary by state.
Mary Beth Kuznik, a longtime judge of elections in Penn Township and founder of VotePA, an elections watchdog group, said the way Pennsylvania selects poll workers adds to the difficulty of filling the positions.
Each precinct is required to have a judge of elections and two election inspectors. All three of the posts are supposed to be filled by voters in that precinct.
“Many times, people don’t run for those positions. The law says, when there are vacancies, it’s up to the county to fill them. But a lot of times it falls to the judge of elections to recruit someone. I think it’s gotten incredibly worse with covid,” she said.
LaRocca said his group has recommended that states loosen residency requirements for poll workers so officials can tap lawyers and students who might be willing to volunteer for the positions but are barred from serving due to municipal boundaries.
LaRocca’s group wants to target lawyers and law students across the country to volunteer to serve as poll workers.
Kuznik, who just graduated from Duquesne University’s law school and helped found an Election Law Society there, likes that idea. But she said there are advantages to maintaining local boards of election.
“We know the people. We know the community. It helps deter fraud and double voting,” said Kuznik, who served on local election boards for more than three decades.
Kuznik said her group is partnering with B-PEP, Pittsburgh’s Black Empowerment Project, We the Women Voters and other groups to recruit poll workers across the region.
Those interested in volunteering to fill posts as poll workers must be registered voters, able to attend training sessions and be willing to work 14 hours on election day. Government employees are barred from serving as poll workers.
Online applications are available at votespa.com.
Deb Erdley is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Deb at derdley@triblive.com.
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