In a rare spirit of bipartisanship, local Democrat and Republican election officials met on Jan. 30, 2024 to voice mutual concern regarding a need for more people to help run elections this year. The news conference coincided with Help America Vote Day, a nationwide effort to get more people engaged in helping run elections.
With elections slated for April and August, then November’s Presidential election, St. Louis City Elections Directors Gary Stoff (R) and Ben Borgmeyer (D); St. Louis County Elections Directors Rick Stream (R) and Eric Fey (D); and St. Charles County Elections Director Kurt Bahr (R) all stressed the need for more people to sign up and work as judges or poll workers.
“It’s an acute need, especially in St. Louis City and County because those jurisdictions are overwhelmingly Democratic,” said Fey.
“We need to get the word out that we need more poll workers and election judges.”
St. Charles County Elections Director Bahr added: “If you want to be a poll worker and help residents of your community exercise their vote then contact our office or the offices in St. Louis County or St. Louis city and say ‘hey, I’d like to be a poll worker.’ We’ll sign you up, get you the training and assign you a polling place.”
Some election experts and secretaries of state have noted an increase in physical and cyber threats against election workers, especially after former President Donald Trump, his allies and conspiracy theorists claimed poll workers helped undermine, then overthrow, the results of the 2020 presidential election.
In recent years, according to a survey from the Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institution, election officials nationwide have endured “death threats, online harassment and other abusive behavior.”
Even though during the 2022 midterm elections locally there were brawls, candidates trying to run over each other, a death threat from a voter to a candidate and campaign supporters reportedly refusing to let voters in polling places, the election officials gathered Tuesday generally downplayed any impact on poll worker decline. Bahr of St. Charles County said he hasn’t seen any concrete data indicating that fear or intimidation is limiting poll worker numbers.
City election official, Ben Borgmeyer said “I know there’s been a lot of public speculation about that, but we haven’t had that in the city.” But, Borgmeyer countered in response to any perceptions of fear, “If you did have concerns about how elections are run, you can walk away (more confident) if you were a poll worker.”
According to Borgmeyer, a law that changed in 2022 has made it easier for poll workers to work outside the jurisdictions where they work.
“In St. Louis-a primary Democratic city-it’s harder to recruit Republicans. So, now if you’re a Republican in the county or from St. Charles you can come and work in the city,” Borgmeyer stressed, adding: “To have bipartisan election staffs, we need equal numbers of Republicans and Democrats. And, of course, we want the best, so we’re trying to get good poll workers to come work with us.”
Older adults (those age 61 and up) tend to account for large shares of poll workers in the United States. Bahr said St. Charles County is employing several methods to attract younger candidates.
“We’re trying to use social media more…trying to get the word out on other platforms to say, ‘not only do we need you to be a poll worker,’ we want to inform them about their ability to absentee vote, to know there is in fact and election coming up or to simply register to vote.”
According to the Missouri Secretary of State’s office, poll workers are paid for their service on Election Day and often for attending training sessions prior to that day. In Missouri the daily pay usually ranges from about $64 to about $100.
To meet the requirements of a poll worker, candidates must be 18 years of age or older; have a valid email address; be a Missouri registered voter; have declared a party affiliation (Democrat or Republican); attend a pre-election day training session; have transportation to assigned polling places and be available to work from 5am to the end of Election Day.
Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.
