Volunteers
$40,000 worth of free advertising on Facebook to specifically recruit for the effort, Rosenberg said. Those ads helped spread the word on social media as more people found out about the need for poll workers.
The number of volunteers has also increased because some college students are at home instead of being away at school as their campus dormitories are closed.
Anna Posniak, the Windsor town clerk who is president of the Connecticut Town Clerks Association, said that she, too, has more volunteers than she needs.
“There’s only so many jobs that we need to perform,’’ Posniak said. “We already have the people we need.’’
The recruits, she said, are “either not working now due to COVID or they’re retired and they want to help.’’
The effort began about six weeks ago as Merrill — the state’s chief elections official — joined with bar associations and other groups in the hopes of convincing attorneys and law students to step forward as workers at more than 700 polling locations across the state. Rosenberg said he did not have data on the exact numbers of lawyers, law students or college students who have stepped forward.
State and local officials were concerned this year that the long-running backbone of the election system - elderly workers - might be unable to serve at local schools and town halls because they are more vulnerable to contracting COVID-19. Many towns have the same workers who return year after year to check off names and monitor the elections in 169 cities and towns across the state.
The effort to attract new poll workers is separate from efforts by the state Republican and Democratic parties to monitor polls or to get out the vote. Merrill partnered with the Connecticut Bar Association and American Bar Association, as well as the National Association of Secretaries of State and the National Association of State Election Directors.
“Attorneys and law students whowork at a polling place or town hall on Election Day can make the difference between a successful election that runs smoothly, or an election with long lines and delayed results,” Merrill said. “Lawyers and law students can be the heroes of this election if they volunteer to help local election officials.”