Those volunteers need to be replaced, said Barton, now a senior expert for The Elections Group, which works with state and local officials across the country. Speaking ahead of National Poll Worker Recruitment Day, she encouraged Americans to volunteer, especially military veterans, who she believes have the skills to help de-escalate the confrontational situations that experts have warned could occur in 2024.<\/p>\n
\u201cI see a huge benefit in having veterans working at polling locations,\u201d Barton said. \u201cThey\u2019re … vigilant, they\u2019re looking at all times for any problems that might occur. To me, having them as part of that adds another layer of security in the precincts.\u201d<\/p>\n
Barton\u2019s organization has partnered with nonprofit We the Veterans, which has recruited 63,500 veterans and military family members to work the polls during the 2022 midterms and is gearing up for 2024.<\/p>\n
The group doesn\u2019t have a tally yet of how many people it\u2019s recruited for 2024, nor has it established a specific goal. We the Veterans expects to begin recruiting in earnest later this year, said Ellen Gustafson, a co-founder of We the Veterans. The group will target states with public service announcements, encouraging veterans to work the polls as a way to continue serving their country. Over time, Gustafson, a Navy spouse, wants their participation in elections to become a standard practice.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur goal is not necessarily numerical, it\u2019s to make it a new norm,\u201d Gustafson said.<\/p>\n
Gustafson agreed with Barton that veterans could use their skills to de-escalate potential conflict at polling stations, though she made clear that We the Veterans is recruiting poll workers, not \u201cpoll watchers.\u201d At least one group that made baseless claims of widespread voter fraud in 2020 encouraged veterans during the 2022 midterms to show up to precincts to monitor voting and act as vigilantes \u2014 something We the Veterans does not support, she said.<\/p>\n
Instead, the group wants veterans and military family members to be legitimate poll workers, paid by local jurisdictions to set up voting machines, answer questions, check voters\u2019 identification, monitor the collection of ballots and pass out \u201cI Voted\u201d stickers.<\/p>\n
Veterans are also accustomed to teamwork \u2014 another quality needed at precincts after the exodus of poll workers in 2020, Barton said. Those workers were typically retired Americans who had volunteered together at their local jurisdictions for many years and built a rapport.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We can de-escalate with the skills honed in military service; by tossing a frag grenade, laying suppressive fire, and calling in close air support or artillery. Alternatively, as a veteran of the Air Force, I can write a sternly written memo or a stellar PowerPoint presentation covering all sides of any given argument.<\/p>\n
Personally, I like the idea of vets working the polls. We’ve certainly helped enough young single mothers work many poles, all across this planet. Joking aside, I do think it’s a good idea. I just don’t know if a bunch of veterans are who some of these shady polling places want working with them. I can’t see many vets going along with shenanigans seen last cycle, like covering the windows or kicking out legitimate observers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Military Times writes about the push to fill the ranks of poll workers this voting season … Polling places looking for a few good men<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[213,643,122,226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-your-tax-dollars-at-work","category-2024-election","category-veterans-in-politics","category-veterans-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=146326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=146326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=146326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=146326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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