Gwinnett County will host two hiring events this week for bilingual poll workers. It’s trying to comply with a federal mandate to conduct elections in both English and Spanish.
In 2016, the U.S. Census Bureau told Gwinnett County its Spanish-speaking population was large enough it had to ensure they could fully participate in elections.
The time since has brought a number of changes to the Gwinnett’s election processes as the county ensures they’re in line with the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits racial discrimination in voting.
“We now have to have bilingual ballots and balloting materials and voter registration materials available, but also we need bilingual poll officials to help us comply with that federal mandate,” said Lynn Ledford, Gwinnett County’s elections director.
Ledford says Gwinnett’s looking to hire more than 300 poll officials before primary elections in May. So far, more than 130 have applied, but fewer than 40 have been approved for hire.
