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The State Press, Erin Galindo:
Amid an unmistakably momentous election season, Sukhmani Singh, a senior double majoring in political science and sustainability, said this year's heightened and divided political climate has made her realize voting was not the only way to enact change during the 2020 election.
Encouraged by poll working advertisements put out by Undergraduate Student Government Tempe, Singh was hired alongside three other ASU students to become poll worker fellows for the Campus Vote Project.
"I think first and foremost voting is the most important thing," Singh said. "But ... what I've realized this year is, honestly, one of the tenets to making sure you're able to vote is this poll worker position."
As a nonpartisan organization intent on institutionalizing voter turnout among universities across the country, the CVP will be working with ASU for the first time as a part of its new initiative to hire students to recruit young poll workers.
During election seasons, poll workers are tasked with setting up and taking down polling locations, assisting voters through the election process, issuing ballots and verifying voter identification and registrations.
But this year, locations across the country, including Maricopa County, reported a shortage of poll workers during the primary election due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Traditionally, older generations have consistently accounted for a majority of poll workers. They also, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, account for the age group most susceptible to the more severe consequences of COVID-19.
Zachary Price, the south regional coordinator of student poll workers for the CVP, explained the initiative to recruit students was created as a way to adapt to older poll workers staying home to avoid exposure to the coronavirus.
The CVP reached out to areas it knew needed more poll workers based on conversations with elections officials, including the Maricopa County Recorder's Office.
Read the full article here.