US short of poll workers

A SHORTAGE of at least 500,000 poll workers nationwide means many voters could face long lines, cranky volunteers, polling places that don’t open or close on schedule and the chance that results won’t be known until long after the polls are closed.

Roughly 1.4 million people have been trained to serve as poll workers, about the same as four years ago.

But nearly 2 million will be needed to deal with an expected heavy turnout, huge numbers of first-time voters and unfamiliar touch-screen machines in hundreds of counties.

Desperate for workers, the Election Assistance Commission urged businesses and federal agencies to give volunteers the day off with pay to staff the polls.

But as the last deadline for training new workers passed on Friday, critical shortages remained in many states.

The shortage is acute in urban areas where workers should be able to speak multiple languages.

Election officials also are struggling to motivate volunteers: For every three poll workers trained, only two show up on election day.

The threat for future elections, officials say, is that the most reliable volunteers are retirees. The EAC currently estimates that the average poll worker is 72-years-old.