Elections officials throughout Missouri need thousands of people who will put in a long, long day for little money. But finding people to work in polling places is a struggle in every election. Most of the people who take that responsibility are up there in years and it’s not easy for some of them to work in uncomfortable gymnasiums, for example, from before 6 a.m. to after 7 p.m..
Secretary of state Robin Carnahan has a link on her website for people to sign up for polling place jobs. The information is sent to the county clerk where the person lives. She says a lot of things could be done to encourage people to become poll workers.
She says she wishes she could wave a magic want so people could only work half days. She thinks many more people would be willing to work seven or eight hours instead of fifteen hours.
She says local elections officials make decisions about scheduling, pay, and training. She says her office provides the training materials to prepare the clerks
Carnahan hopes the legislature approves some tax incentives for poll workers. She says she knows of at least one county clerk that is paying extra for poll workers who are younger than 30.