ALLENTOWN, Pa. — With the primary election coming up and general election around the corner, Pennsylvania needs poll workers — especially young, bilingual poll workers.
A partnership that Lehigh County Board of Elections started with the Allentown School District in 2021 now has grown to meet that need in the lead-up to the 2024 decision.
"All three high schools are now providing scores of poll workers throughout Lehigh County," said Shannon Salter, the partnership coordinator at ASD's Building 21.
Salter said the effort was borne of students wanting to increase their engagement beyond just pushing voter registration.
It has resulted in every Allentown ward served by student poll workers during the November elections last year.
During an Allen High School home basketball game last week, county officials and school staff joined together for their first tabling effort of the calendar year to register new voters and recruit new student poll workers.
As cheers and buzzers sounded off for the varsity and JV games vs. Whitehall on Tuesday night, students were heralded to hear about how to register to vote and given information on the benefits of being a poll worker and how to sign up.
'Grows the pool of volunteers'
Lehigh County elections staff said this year, the outreach effort will be bigger than it has been in the past, bringing in students not just from all Allentown School District high schools but also from Whitehall, Southern Lehigh and Executive Education charter school.
During the most recent election, more than 90 students participated. Lehigh County hopes to grow that number even more.
"It's not unusual, once a student starts working, that their parents, grandparents join the program because their students started working. So it really grows the pool of poll working volunteers greatly."Shannon Salter, the partnership coordinator at ASD's Building 21
Students who participate often are enticed by getting paid (poll workers are compensated a tax-exempt $195 for the day) and having community service time recorded for their efforts.
But after in-school training and a day of helping manage the polls, they leave able to better connect with and understand the process, spreading confidence about the voting system.
Poll workers can be as young as 17, but it's often common for the job to be taken up by older volunteers.
"And then it's not unusual once a student starts working that their parents, grandparents join the program because their students started working," Salter said.
"So it really grows the pool of poll working volunteers greatly."
'One-day job and an experience'
When ASD senior Tristan Knoble first signed up to be a poll worker in November's election after signing up and training through Building 21, he said people right away voiced how happy they were to see a young person at the polls.
"When we got the hang of it, they were happy working with us because we were young and they didn't usually get younger people working," Knoble said.
"A lot of the older community members were very happy because they said that they just never really see younger people [working at elections], and it's always just people of their age doing it. <br/>So they were happy to see that the schools are able to get the community to do it."Allentown School District senior Tristan Knoble
"And then a lot of the older community members were very happy because they said that they just never really see younger people [working at elections], and it's always just people of their age doing it.
"So they were happy to see that the schools are able to get the community to do it."
Knoble said being able to connect to the process has let him see a lot more perspectives.
And while some people came with a bad mood, he said he overall really enjoyed the experience, which has become something shared by his family since his sister first signed up through the school program in a prior year.
"I think that it's good that they get the opportunity of students to be able to out to go and do something," Knoble said. "It's a one-day job and an experience, so I love it."
Bilingualism need met by students
Lehigh County Board of Elections staff say the 2020 Census told them they need to fill a shortage in poll workers, with a big need for those who are bilingual.
Kaleb Wassa, a staff member of the Lehigh County Voter Registrations office, said it can be hard for the county to get up to speed with changing requirements and demands that come with the census, such as the need for more Spanish interpreters not just in Allentown, but throughout the country.
"It's hard to find people that are bilingual, people that have the availability, and I think the student program is one of the best ways that we're finding to fill in those gaps," Wassa said.
"They're able to come and say, 'You can come talk to me, I speak Spanish, I can help you vote in Spanish.'"Shannon Salter, the partnership coordinator at ASD's Building 21
"A lot of the students here in Center City have parents that speak another language, and it's only going to be a matter of time I think before the 2030 census comes and we're going to see that increase [in need] even more."
Wassa said expanding to other schools and getting as many young people involved as they can, not just with bilingual students, will put the county in a much better position in the future to not worry about understaffing.
Salter said that the recognition of bilingual students can bring them, and the rest of their family, a lot more confidence when it comes to the electoral system.
"For our Spanish-speaking students to be told that their bilingualism is an asset in a community and an environment where sometimes being Spanish-speaking is not spoken of as a strength or an asset," Salter said.
"To have the county come to the school and tell our students who are bilingual [that] we really need you, you're important to us — has been so impactful to not just their sense of self-esteem, but then their family's willingness to participate in the process."
"They're able to come and say, 'You can come talk to me, I speak Spanish, I can help you vote in Spanish' — it's been great."
'Foot-in-tghe-door first step'
Rachel Zane, advisor for the Empower club at Allen High School, which manages the poll worker recruitment effort at the school, said it lets bilingual students get background being a translator, potentially opening up opportunities in the future.
She said most students involved start as greeters, signing people in, and foot traffic guides, but that experience could lead to more responsibility later on.
"They may eventually become a judge of elections because they've had all of that experience being a worker in all of the different other aspects of the polling place."Rachel Zane, advisor for the Empower club at Allen High School
"It is distinctly possible that if they continue doing this for the rest of their experience as a voter, they may eventually become a judge of elections because they've had all of that experience being a worker in all of the different other aspects of the polling place," Zane said.
"So this is basically the foot-in-the-door first step to becoming a long-term poll worker who maybe does this every year for the rest of their life."
She said that in the leadup to the presidential election, those at Allen High are doing a bit more outreach, tabling and other efforts in the leadup to the presidential election — the biggest election yet that will be helped with Allentown's student poll worker program.
Lehigh County elections staff, in turn, said it is increasing its own efforts in outreach and tabling for this year's election.
Poll worker applications for community members are available on the Lehigh County website and on Vote.PA.gov.
Pennsylvania's 2024 primary election will take place on April 23, 2024.
