College students recruited as new generation of COVID-19 poll workers

Mesa Legend, Brock Blasdell:

As Arizona and Maricopa county prepare for a record turnout in the November elections, voter advocacy groups across the nation are recruiting on college campuses to fight potential poll worker shortages.

Groups like the Campus Vote Project, started by the Fair Elections Center, work directly with colleges to boost student voting–and now students at poll stations. They claim COVID-19 will cause less people to sign up for the job, leading to long lines, massive gatherings and voter discouragement in the face of a controversial presidential election.

“We are staring down a huge problem for this fall,” said Zach Price, Campus Vote Project’s Arizona regional coordinator of student poll workers. “More than half of all poll workers are over the age of 60, and we are confronted by a pandemic that primarily affects people over the age of 60.”

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