Aug 25, 2020 3 min read

The Pennsylvania Department of State recently added the category “Be a Poll Worker” to its menu on www.votespa.com, and Washington County has received 90 applicants through the website for positions in the Nov. 3 General Election.

Washington County Elections Director Melanie Ostrander is now screening hopefuls for the paid positions.

Those who are selected must go through a training course on the use of voting machines and the scanner that accompanies them to create a paper trail that can be audited.

Applicants are to be registered voters in the county where they are applying for the Election Day jobs. A person must be 18 years old on or before Nov. 3 to be eligible to vote in this year’s presidential election, but there are exceptions for 17-year-old students.

The Voter Protection Corps and Carnegie Mellon University earlier this month rated counties based on the possibility of voter disenfranchisement because of shortfalls in poll worker recruitment.

Washington, Fayette and Westmoreland counties were rated “begin to recruit immediately” in a news release that listed eight states, including Pennsylvania.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission reported in 2017 the majority of poll workers were over age 60, a vulnerable population that may choose not have contact with the public because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The tool to determine a county’s status used public information from the election administration and survey data.

The Washington County elections office has also sent letters to judges of election asking that they contact members of their local election board and report the status of those who have served previously by Sept. 11.

Because voter turnout is always highest in a presidential election year, each of the county’s 180 precincts needs five poll workers, and larger precincts can increase the size of their boards to seven.

All judges of elections and at least one other poll worker from a local board must attend a training class.

Those attending will be compensated for mileage plus $10 for taking the class, which will be limited to 25 people. Face masks are required under current guidelines set by both the federal Centers for Disease Control and Pennsylvania.

Poll worker training in the public meeting room on the first floor of the Courthouse Square office building will resume Sept. 16 through Oct. 23. There will be 12 sessions in September and eight sessions in October. Sessions on various days will begin at either 11 a.m., 1 p.m. or 5 p.m.

The elections office is also working with local high schools to find students who are willing to help at polling places.

Those who are interested in working on Election Day should call 724-228-6750 or email washcoelections@co.washington.pa.us.