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McCracken County in Need of Poll Workers

McCracken County in Need of Poll Workers
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By West Kentucky Star Staff
Aug. 13, 2020 | MCCRACKEN COUNTY
By West Kentucky Star Staff Aug. 13, 2020 | 06:33 PM | MCCRACKEN COUNTY
With the election approaching, McCracken County Clerk Julie Griggs is stressing the need for more poll workers.

Most poll workers are either in their 60's or older, putting a majority of the people that would typically be poll workers in the high-risk category for COVID-19. 

With the primary election, it wasn't as much of an issue due to only one polling location being open in McCracken County. However, Griggs says her hope is that they will be able to have additional polling locations open for the general election. If the county isn't able to get enough poll workers, it will limit the county's ability to offer in-person voting.

During a typical election year, there would be 250 precinct workers across the county with four in each precinct. Although Secretary of State Michael Adams hasn't announced how many voting locations the state will allow yet, Griggs is hoping to open between 10-12 voting locations with 50-75 workers in total.

On Tuesday, Adams announced the Poll Worker Volunteer Portal website, an easy way for Kentucky voters to register as poll workers for the general election. The portal passes an application on to the volunteer's county clerk, who will then contact the volunteer.

Adams shared that the number of poll workers across the entire state is critically low. 

"Just as we've made it easy to vote, we've made it easy to serve your community by volunteering to work the polls," Adams said. "Whatever your politics, we need your help so we can offer in-person voting, and also so we can ask less of our elderly poll workers who usually volunteer."

According to Griggs, the addition of the website has definitely made the process of finding poll workers easier.

She said, "It's definitely working and it's generating some interest out there. We're very hopeful about how that's going to work."

If you are interested in serving as a poll worker, visit the link below and select 'Kentucky Needs Poll Workers'.

Additionally, Griggs shared that if anyone is interested in voting with an absentee ballot they should let her office know as soon as possible by calling 270-444-4702.

"The earlier that we can get all of this information the better, just so we're not overwhelmed with it later on." Griggs continued, "If you think that is something that you want to do, call us or email us and let us know that you are interested in receiving an absentee ballot."

On the Net:

Volunteer page at GoVoteKY.com
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