About 225 students at the school have signed up to be poll workers in Boone, Campbell, Gallatin, Grant and Kenton counties in Kentucky, and Clermont and Hamilton counties in Ohio.

They were recruited by the Scripps Howard Center for Civic Engagement at NKU with a $25,000 federal grant from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. NKU was one of 15 universities nationwide to receive such a grant, which was part of the Help America Vote College Program.

"It's a campaign to get younger people involved," said Joan Ferrante, NKU sociology professor and interim director of Scripps. "What's going to happen when this older generation of poll workers leaves us?"

The grant money has been used to recruit poll workers, train them for the job and provide food for them on Election Day. The counties pay workers between $60 and $140 for their time.

But this job isn't a snap.

Workers have to go through a training class, help set up Monday night before the election and be at the polls on Election Day from about 5:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.

"I'm doing it because I'm kind of curious how the voting will go in Boone County," said Geneva Ball of Burlington, a junior at NKU who will be working in her home county. "I want to see whether the young people will get out and vote or if it will be mostly the older people."

Hannah Simon, a senior, will work in her hometown of Roselawn in Hamilton County. While in the Navy during the 2000 election, she didn't vote because she never received an absentee ballot. She intends to make sure everything goes smoothly in her precinct.

"It's going to be interesting to be able to help people and tell them how to do it," said Simon. "My goal is to make sure everybody's vote counts."

E-mail wcroyle@enquirer.com