Veterans will be volunteering as poll workers nationwide during the November election – a move that should help restore confidence in U.S. elections.
That’s according to the nonprofit We the Veterans and Military Families, which has enlisted more than 141,000 members of the veteran and military family community as poll workers as part of its Vet the Vote campaign, smashing its initial goal of 100,000.
“We are a very trusted population of Americans,” said Navy veteran and spouse Julie Hendricks, director of operations for Vet the Vote. “The big push from now on is making sure that as many Americans as possible know that this group of trusted individuals are there to make your vote count when you head to your local jurisdiction.”
According to We the Veterans, one out of every 10 election workers in November will be a veteran or the family member of a veteran.
Chairman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission Thomas Hicks said about one million poll workers are needed for next month’s election.
“This effort helps us to get to that goal,” he said.
Hicks stressed that while there has been a lot of negativity about elections and how they are run, the people who are poll workers are the neighbors of those who are casting their ballots.
“They’re the folks that are part of the PTA, people you’re seeing at church, and so forth,” he said. “If you go into a polling place, you’re likely to know these folks. Know that they’re doing their best to serve the country and serve you.”
Hicks said poll workers welcome and check in voters at polling places, hand out ballots and explain how to use voting equipment.
Those workers welcome and check in voters, issue ballots and explain how to use voting equipment.
Vet the Vote and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission have partnered to help bring confidence to the Nov. 5 election. Other partners in the effort include Microsoft, NASCAR, the NBA, NFL and WalMart.
Hendricks said the partners traveled nationwide throughout the year to teach about how elections work and recruit poll workers.
“Elections are local and veterans are willing and able to give back to their communities,” she said.
We the Veterans also partnered with secretaries of state in Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont to host events.
“It’s really important that we were able to partner with the people in charge of elections in those states to show communities that elections are local,” Hendricks explained. “Although we count numbers nationally and talk about poll workers nationally, this is hyperlocal and state-regulated. Not everybody understands that.”
An event scheduled for Wednesday in Jacksonville, Florida will allow participants to talk with election officials from the Sunshine State and Georgia.
“Veterans have always given to their country, as we have seen have seen through the devastation of Hurricane Helene, one of the ways they can serve their communities is as a poll worker,” said Hicks.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.