MIAMI VALLEY — Some of our area boards of elections want and need to hire more poll workers for the Aug. 8 special election.
On Tuesday, News Center 7′s John Bedell polled early voters in Troy and Xenia, asking them about the importance of poll workers.
“The process of early voting is very nice. There’s typically no lines and the poll workers here make it really easy,” Kevin Hess, of Troy, said.
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Vickie Miller, of Bradford, and Richard Barnes, of Fairborn, agreed that the poll workers are very helpful.
“The fact that they’re in bright and early to let us in early for voting, which is really nice,” Miller said.
Of the people Bedell polled, only one, Eli Shapiro, of Xenia Twp., was signed up to be an actual poll worker during the upcoming special election.
“I just want to be able to help out. You know, it’s important to get people into the polls and all that sort of thing,” Shapiro said. “And they need people and I’m available that do, so I thought, why not?”
Bedell asked some of our local boards of elections executives how they’re doing on poll worker staffing this summer. Warren County’s director Brian Sleeth said they are “doing fine,” and added they’re “still recruiting, but no worries really.”
Jeff Rezabek, Montgomery County’s Board of Election Director, told News Center 7 that they still need “around 200 to be fully staffed,” but added they are still “ready to roll.”
Miami County Board of Election Deputy Director Ian Ridgeway said they were in “pretty good shape for August.”
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“We’re working on November a little bit here and there but, you know, overall we’re in good shape. But we’d like to get more, you know, for those last-minute call-offs that always end up happening,” Ridgeway said.
In Greene County, they’re full up on election workers for August.
“We’re doing great for August. We’re actually not hiring anyone else,” Alisha Lampert, Greene County Board of Election Director, said while noting they had a great start for November.
Clark County Board of Election Deputy Director Amber Lopez said they’re meeting their needs for poll workers for the special election.
“We haven’t begun scheduling for November yet, but we typically find it easier to fill the need in a regularly scheduled election,” Lopez said.