All hands on deck

Cook County, Ill., Clerk Karen Yarbrough needs at least 7,000 poll workers on Nov. 8, but as of Sept. 20, she was roughly 3,000 short. To attract recruits, she held public information sessions, standing by posters of Uncle Sam pointing his finger under the words “Calling all Veterans. We need YOU!”

And it worked. As of Oct. 14, more than 2,050 veterans and their friends and family members had signed up as poll workers or election judges.

An estimated 130,000 poll workers have left the job over the past three years, and election ­officials have turned to creative means for replacing their ranks. Nonpartisan poll workers, who either volunteer or earn a small ­stipend, organize lines at polling locations, hand out ballots, supply pens, and otherwise support county officials. Without a team at each precinct, election officials become overworked and lines run long.

Vet the Vote partners with 15 veterans groups, four civic organizations, and the NFL. Its website claims to have attracted more than 60,000 volunteers in the past six months. “Veterans are made of stern stuff, we have been to war and aren’t easily intimidated,” Marine Corps veteran and Vet the Vote recruiter Joe Plenzler told ABC.

The Board of Elections in Montgomery County, Md., now allows teenagers as young as 16 to serve as poll workers for either cash or volunteer credit. Alabama increased poll worker pay to attract high school students. And the American Bar Association has revived a program to incentivize lawyers and students to sign up to work the polls.

Stumping on a new platform

Candidates are turning to the popular video platform TikTok in a push to get young voters to the ballot box. Although the app bans overt political advertising, campaign teams have swamped the app with videos promoting candidates through dances or 15-second blurbs.

In 2020, Tok the Vote reached an estimated 10 million users with voter registration info. The Democratic National Committee created its own TikTok account ­earlier this year. Democrats have found greater success on the platform than Republicans, who tend to distrust the Chinese-owned app. After Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz of Pennsylvania posted a gaffe-laden video criticizing the grocery-store price of ­“crudités” (veggie platters), Democrat opponent John Fetterman responded with tongue-in-cheek videos of “veggies for Fetterman.”

In September, TikTok updated its policies to prevent campaign fundraising on the app. —C.L.