In the 25 years that she's served as a Hamilton County poll worker, LuAnn Marts has seen it all.

        Inattentive elections workers too engrossed in their novels to sign in voters. Helpers who demand to leave before their shifts end. The 20-something worker who retired to the back room mid-shift on Election Day for a three-hour nap.

        “Mixed in with the really dedicated people who know what they're doing you get a lot of warm bodies that have no business being there,” Ms. Marts, a 46-year-old St. Bernard resident, said. “Unfortunately, there's such a shortage of poll workers that boards of elections have to take darn near anybody that they can get.”

        With a 14- to-16-hour workday that generally begins at 6 a.m. and pay that averages just $6 an hour — barely above federal minimum wage — retirees fill the vast majority of Election Day jobs.

BE A POLL WORKER

KENTUCKY    Boone County: Republicans should call Odell Berry at (859) 485-7459 and Democrats should call Joan Harris at (859) 334-2172.    Campbell County: Call (859) 292-3885.    Kenton County: Republicans should call Robert Hitch at (859) 331-2296 and Democrats should call Robert Hebbeler at (859) 331-3477. OHIO    Hamilton County: Call (513) 632-7000 or go to the Board of Elections Web site at www.hamilton-co.org/boe.    Butler County: Call (513) 887-3700; in Middletown area call (513) 424-0469.    Warren County: Call (513) 925-1358 or go to the Board of Elections Web site at www.co.warren.oh.us.    Clermont County: Call Ruth Ann at (513) 732-7489 for Republicans and Bonnie at (513) 732-7488 for the Democrats. INDIANA    Dearborn County: Call County Clerk Gayle Pennington at (812) 537-8866.    Switzerland County: Call (812) 427-3175. Election: Finding, keeping good poll workers difficult task for states.

        “The combination of aging poll workers and extraordinarily long days makes recruitment difficult,” said Jennifer Bowser, a Denver-based policy analyst with the bipartisan National Conference of State Legislatures.

        The need for qualified poll workers was highlighted again during the recent troubled Florida elections. Last-minute changes in poll worker instructions combined with complex new machines resulted in a high-profile race that was too close to call. The blunders prompted former Attorney General Janet Reno to wait days before conceding the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

        “I suspect that a lot of states have just as much trouble recruiting and training poll workers as Florida does,” Ms. Bowser said. “They're just in the news because of what happened in (the troubled presidential election of) 2000.”

Shaking the bushes

        Tristate elections administrators have advertised for poll workers in everything from newspaper ads and church bulletins to fliers at local grocery stores and Election Day signup sheets. In some voting districts, poll worker training begins Tuesday.

        Local elections administrators frequent independent living centers and bingo halls. They appeal to voters' sense of dedication and patriotism at local high schools and colleges. They've also made televised pleas for poll workers on local cable access channels and have written guest columns for community newspapers.

        And whenever there's an event — especially one attracting lots of senior citizens — you'll see them setting up recruitment booths, whether it's the Boone or Campbell County senior citizens picnics, the Black Family Reunion or the Clermont County Fair.

        “It just seems like there should be a better way,” said Bev Moore, director of the Warren County Board of Elections, on the never-ending scramble to fill 1.2 million poll worker positions nationwide. “The bottom line is poll workers are the backbones of elections.”

        Finding enough people to staff precincts and provide adequate training with limited state or county funds has long challenged elections administrators, national and local elections officials say. As long-time poll workers die, become incapacitated or retire to Florida, few younger workers are stepping up to replace them.

        This year, Northern Kentucky clerks expect a higher than normal turnover of poll workers because there were no elections in 2001.

        The problem is worse in fast-growing areas, such as Warren, Butler and Boone counties, where soaring growth constantly requires elections officials to increase the number of precincts and add more poll workers.

Fla. sparked reforms

        However, it took the problem-plagued 2000 Presidential election in Florida to spark a flurry of election reforms.

        In the past 18 months, 25 states have passed new laws mandating training for poll workers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

        A number of states also have increased poll worker salaries, removed partisanship requirements, and allowed poll workers to split the 14- to 16-hour shifts. They also have lowered the age to allow high school students to work.

        The Kentucky General Assembly adopted a law this year that lets minors who are 17 and will be 18 by Election Day to serve as an election officer for primary and general elections. Indiana's Legislature also passed a law in 2002 that allows people 16 to 18 to serve as poll clerks and election sheriffs.

        “In most cases, the students have to have a certain GPA, and they have to be supervised by experienced poll workers,” Ms. Bowser said.

        If poll workers aren't properly screened or trained, they can affect everything from voter interest to election results.

        “People's employment is a particular challenge (to recruiting poll workers),” said Julie Strautberg, director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections. “Our other challenge is we have poll workers who have worked for us for a long time and are accustomed to working a particular polling place with particular people. If (potential poll workers) are all from one side of town, they may not want to go to the other side of town to work at 6 a.m.”

Meeting demands

        Of the 596 poll workers needed each election, Warren County loses about 200 a year, prompting elections officials to recruit year-round, even on Election Day.

        “We're one of the fastest-growing counties in the state of Ohio, with over 100,000 voters,” Ms. Moore said. “But as the county grows, the code only provides for so many voters per precinct, so you're constantly making new precincts. Every time you add a new precinct, that means you need four more poll workers.”

        In Butler County, the number of precincts has more than doubled during the past decade, from 135 to 289, said Bob Mosketti, director of the board of elections. A 1995 Ohio law that reduced the number of required workers per polling place granted some relief, but elections officials still keep a constant lookout for new workers, especially in Fairfield, Liberty and West Chester townships, Mr. Mosketti said.

        In Clermont County, frantic elections workers were on the phone just days before the May primary. They were looking for qualified poll workers who could fill in for long-time Election Day workers who had moved since the last election, or simply didn't have the time to devote to poll work any more.

        Clermont County elections officials from the two major political parties began asking registered voters to consider working the polls through phone banks begun two months ago.

        Mr. Bare also solicited poll workers through a column in the community newspaper. He also plans to address the need for poll workers in a cable television spot running later this month.

        “It's nothing to lose 10 or 15 poll workers at 6 o'clock on election morning,” Ms. Moore said.

A personal touch

        Some of the more novel attempts to keep good poll workers can be found in Johnson County, Kansas, Ms. Bowser said.

        There, elections officials supply homemade cookies on Election Day, write personal thank-yous and send greeting cards for major milestones. They also issue patriotic lapel pins, give out discount coupons for local businesses, send newsletters between elections, greet election workers by name and treat mass training sessions like patriotic pep rallies.

        Although clerks in many states have lobbied to raise poll workers' pay, few elections officials think that alone will solve the chronic poll worker shortage.

        “I don't think most people do it for the money,” said Kenton County Clerk Bill Aylor. “They do it because they're involved. They want to be part of the process.”

        In Nebraska, the only state that permits a county to draft registered voters to serve as poll workers, populous Douglas County has drafted poll workers since the 1950s. In 2000, Douglas County drafted 1,500 election day workers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Citizens who are selected from the list of registered voters must work four elections, but they don't have to be consecutive.

        After working four elections, a poll worker can request that his name be taken off the list, and the person can't be drafted for another five years.

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