Gwinnett County Experiences Poll Worker Shortage
Gwinnett County is experiencing a poll worker shortage for the upcoming May primary election.
County officials say Gwinnett is about 100 poll workers short of where it hopes to be by election day. Gwinnett County Voter Registration and Elections Director Lynn Ledford is unsure why the shortage is occurring, but she says several factors may have contributed. 
“I attribute some of it to perhaps maybe people getting jobs where they didn’t have jobs before, so that has kind of decreased our pool a little. I think also having the election earlier in the year, so we’re not getting some of the teachers and some of the school administrators that we normally would have, so I think that may have something to do with it as well.”
Other counties like Cobb County have managed to find enough poll workers. But Janine Eveler, Cobb County’s Director of Elections, says moving the primary date from May to July this year made recruiting more difficult.
“At the beginning of our recruiting process many of our poll workers who have worked for us before were caught off guard by the earlier May 20 date, and they had already made some plans, so we had to backfill some of those positions and go with newer workers, but we’re pretty much caught up now.”
Meanwhile, Fulton and DeKalb Counties say they have not had any trouble finding poll workers. Poll workers are paid and have to be U.S. residents. They also have to be at least 16-years-old and live in the county where the election is taking place.
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