Groups aim to recruit bilingual poll workers
PHOENIX— The national Mi FamiliaVota organization has long been involved in voting rights issues and other matters of civic engagement, but this year it’s added a newinitiative: Recruiting bilingual poll workers.
The Phoenix-based group is joining advocacy organizations, nonprofits and even businesses across theU.S. in trying to persuade younger people to work at polling places, especially thosewho are bilingual.
The coronavirus has upended how elections officials recruit poll workers, who are typically older and thusmore susceptible to becoming seriously ill from COVID-19.
Using digital recruitment campaigns and celebrity endorsements, various groups are selling the role as a key to democracy. Major companies such asOldNavy also have jumped in, offering employees paid time off to work the polls.
Eduardo Sainz, Mi Familia Vota’s Arizona state director, said ensuring that poll workers can communicate in Spanish is critical even in a state where most voters cast ballots by mail or by using drop boxes. Newer voters especially seem reluctant to trust their ballot to the Postal Service.
“Time after time, because of language barriers or intimidation, ourcommunitywas getting turned away at the polls,” he said.
The group has appealed to its socialmedia followersand partnered with the TV network Univision to reach its goal of recruiting 200 Spanish-speaking pollworkers in PimaandMaricopa counties.
“We need to make sure that every voter gets their vote to be counted and no voter gets turned away, and that means investing and having individuals who are culturally competent and speak several languages,” Sainz said.
That will be especially important in a year that is projected to see a record turnout of eligible Latino voters— some32million, according to the PewResearchCenter. Census data shows about 12.6millionLatinos cast votes in the 2016 general election— about 47% of those eligible to vote. In Arizona, Latinos account for nearly a quarter of registered voters.
Andria Bibiloni, a lawstudent in Philadelphia, became afirst-timepollworkerduring Pennsylvania’s June primary after getting an email from an advocacy group the night before. The email came in at 7:54 p.m., desperately seeking 100 pollworkers because of an expected shortage. By 6:30 the next morning, Bibiloni, a Puerto Rican from New Yorkwho speaks Spanish, was at her assigned polling location.
She said she never got to use her language skills because no voters asked for a translator, but she learned howmuch other help voters need at the polls.
“I definitely came out of that noticing how individual people are very prone to just kind of showing up before necessarily having donetheirhomeworkbeforehand,” she said.
Power the Polls, a nonprofit that’s partnering with groups across the country, launched in July with a goal of recruiting 250,000 poll workers. By mid-September, 400,000 people had signed up, saidErikaSotoLamb, vice president of social impact strategy at Comedy Central/ MTV and a co- founder of Power the Polls.
Soto Lamb said the group is activelyworking with advocacy organizations that reach bilingual and diverse populations.
“Aspartofthatnewgeneration, we wanted it to bemore diverse,” she said. “For the people you encounterwhen you come to vote to look like youand be able tocommunicate with you, is really a new territory that hasn’t been focused on before.”
Evenbefore the pandemic, elections officials struggled to attract pollworkers, who work long hours for little pay. More than two-thirds of them are 61 years old or more, according to a congressional report. Many of them have bowed out this year, given that older people are more susceptible to becoming seriously ill from the coronavirus.
In Arizona’s Maricopa County, where a majority of the state’spopulation lives, officials said they need about 1,800 poll workers for the general election but declined to sayhowmanyhave signed up so far. During the August primary, nearly 25% of the county’s 1,289 poll workers were bilingual; in the 2016 general, about 20% were.
In Harris County, Texas, which includesHouston and is the state’s most populous withmore than 2 million registered voters, officials plan to employ 11,000 paidworkers and student helpers at the polls this fall.
A spokesperson for the county clerk’s office said the county is working with the Democratic and Republican parties, doing outreach on social media and creating partnerships with local organizations and places ofworship to recruit Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese-speaking poll workers.
When early voting starts Oct. 13, three bilingual electionworkers will staff each of the county’s 122 voting locations. One will speak Chinese, one Spanish and one Vietnamese. The county is still sorting out Election Day coverage.
As of the firstweek of September, more than 10,000 people had applied to be election workers throughout the Houston area.
In Florida, where Latinos could help swing the presidential election, several organizations are actively recruiting Spanish- speaking poll workers in counties across the state. Among them is Florida For All Education Fund, which has addedHaitianswho speak Creole to its recruiting drive.
Harvey Soto, the fund’s democracy coordinator, said it has already recruited 300 pollworkers for Miami-Dade County alone. He said he has worked polling places in Florida and Georgia, and seen howvoters with limited English proficiency struggle when there is no translator.
He did notwant that to be an obstacle this year.
“Wedecided not tosit back and be proactive and help out,” he said.