COLUMBUS – Ohio elections officials are hanging out the Help Wanted sign.
With less than three weeks remaining until the Nov. 2 general election, only four of Ohio’s 88 counties have met their recruitment goal for poll workers and Secretary of State Frank LaRose says that’s nearly 18,000 short of the goal of 42,204.
“As this year’s important November election approaches, we’re still a long way away from ensuring a full complement of poll workers to staff our thousands of polling locations across the state. If you volunteered to serve as a poll worker last year or have ever wondered what it’s like to serve your community and perform an important patriotic duty in a time of need, Ohio voters need you,” LaRose said.
Find out more about serving as a poll worker at VoteOhio.gov/DefendDemocracy.
More than 27,000 Ohioans have signed up to serve as poll workers, including 12,456 Democratic poll workers and 11,592 Republicans, LaRose said.
But the state still needs more workers as LaRose’s office has set a goal of recruiting about 25% mor workers than last year, when a record 56,789 Ohioans staffed polling places for the presidential election amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The greatest need is in the most populous counties, with Franklin, Cuyahoga, and Hamilton County still needing thousands of poll workers to meet their goal, while 30 other counties remain in need of hundreds of workers.
Franklin County is still over 2,000 workers short of meeting its goal. In central Ohio, only Pickaway County has recruited enough poll workers.
LaRose says several initiatives have been put in place to attract poll workers, including the Lawyers for Liberty program, where attorneys can get required continuing legal education credits, a partnership with over 100 barbershops, salons and cosmetology schools into them to recruit more poll workers.
Poll workers can donate their earnings to a nonprofit or charity of their choice and, in Ohio, 17-year-old high school seniors can serve as poll workers, LaRose said.
Brown endorses Ryan in Senate race
Ohio’s top elected Democrat has endorsed U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan for Senate.
The expected move Wednesday is aimed at further strengthening the party’s efforts to flip a key seat next year.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is one of the politically divided state’s most successful politicians.
He called the 10-term congressman a friend who “understands that all work has dignity.”
Attorney Morgan Harper, Ryan’s progressive opponent to succeed the retiring Republican Sen. Rob Portman, said electing Ryan would jeopardize Democrats’ ability to defeat Republicans in 2022.
The Republican National Committee said Ryan would continue to pursue “a radical agenda” in Washington.