Towns making sure they have enough election workers

Peterborough voters wait in line during the 2022 election.

Peterborough voters wait in line during the 2022 election. FILE PHOTO

By CHARLOTTE MATHERLY

Monadnock Ledger-Transcript

Published: 08-29-2024 12:01 PM

Peterborough’s polling district has just over 5,000 registered voters. Rarely do more than 3,500 of them actually vote.

Still, Town Clerk Linda Guyette and Moderator Phil Runyon are focused on making sure polls are staffed and ready to go come election season. There’s no shortage of poll workers to go around, said Runyon, because people are often willing to help – especially in a year like this one.

“Everyone comes out of the woodwork for these big elections,” said Guyette.

Towns like Peterborough – and many across New Hampshire – buck the national trend of a poll-worker shortage. More than 775,000 people staffed the polls nationally in the 2020 election, but the United States needs that number to be closer to 1 million, said Marta Hanson with Power the Polls, which helps recruit poll workers, in a report by The 19th. New Hampshire officials, however, say the state is on track to properly staff its polling locations.

Town moderators and clerks from municipalities around the Monadnock region say their recruitment is on par with previous years, and with what they need.

Peterborough has eight volunteer ballot clerks – four are on shift at any given time – plus greeters and the elected positions of supervisors of the checklist, selectmen, Runyon and Guyette. It also has someone to man the door who can help make sure people have all their required documents to register and vote.

Political parties also appoint inspectors of the election, who observe the process on their behalf. Chris Ager, chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party, said the party appointed about 250 people to serve as inspectors statewide but didn’t provide specific data by town. The New Hampshire Democratic Party didn’t respond to the Ledger-Transcript’s request.

Antrim has four volunteer check-in clerks in addition to its elected and staff positions. Rindge has four ballot clerks, four people who hand out ballots and at least one greeter.

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“The people here are really good about volunteering to help out,” Rindge Town Clerk Shana Eichner said.

New Ipswich is experiencing an anomaly this year. They’re down about a dozen volunteers for the Sept. 10 primary, Moderator Bob Romeril said, mostly due to schedule clashes. The town currently has about eight to 10 volunteers, but several of New Ipswich’s usual poll workers will either be out of town or can’t make it.

“We’re going to go out, shake the weeds a little,” Romeril said.

Romeril will have to navigate a couple of updated laws come next year, including one that will allow people to absentee vote ahead of the election if dangerous weather conditions are expected on Election Day and one that requires all polling places to have voting machines that help people who struggle with their eyesight or hearing. For now, though, Romeril is focused on getting through 2024.

“I just anticipate November being really busy,” Romeril said.

Despite most Monadnock localities reporting that they’re on track to staff polling locations this fall, Secretary of State David Scanlan said he didn’t have the numbers on whether New Hampshire as a whole is close because elections are largely run by local officers. In the big picture, he estimated there are about 3,000 local election officials who are elected to serve as moderators, supervisors of the checklist and in other roles. The state needs double that amount, bolstered by volunteers, to actually run the operation.

Scanlan’s office runs multiple recruitment initiatives and is tapping service organizations, the senior population and veterans to help out. New Hampshire works with an organization called Vet the Vote and encourages veterans to staff polling places as another way to serve their country. Plus, he said, veterans are well-respected in their communities and can be “a great example” for civic duty.

Overall, he said most communities don’t have any issues getting the staff they need to pull off the elections.

“Occasionally, there are pockets or individual towns that have trouble finding poll workers,” Scanlan said. “When that happens, there’s an extra effort that’s applied to that particular area to make sure that they have the help and the manpower they need to conduct an election.”

Scanlan attributed the national shortage of poll workers to increased hypervigilance and tension surrounding elections, especially since the 2020 presidential race.

“There is a lot of scrutiny on individuals that are responsible for conducting elections,” Scanlan said. “That’s added stress and added pressure, and there are many people that just don’t want to be in a situation like that, so they decline to work the polls the next time around.”

Charlotte Matherly is the State House reporter for the Concord Monitor and Monadnock Ledger-Transcript in partnership with Report for America. Follow her on X at @charmatherly, or send her an email at cmatherly@cmonitor.com.