Md. election officials fear local boards failing to recruit poll workers

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Maryland election officials Wednesday blasted their local counterparts for not providing critical information on how they are recruiting election judges. Some said they are concerned about continued reports that local boards are telling some potential election judge volunteers to come back later.

The critical comments come as  Maryland State Board of Election officials say they will press local boards to recruit high school students to staff polling places and are approving some county requests to consolidate polling places into voting centers.

“I thought we made it very clear that we needed this data — here are the number of judges we need and here are the number of judges we have committed so far or the number that have dropped out,” said PJ Hogan, a member of the five-member state elections panel. “We needed that data from the local boards every Monday morning and that does not appear to be happening.”

Some said the information being reported in some cases was “confusing.”

“The local boards are asking for help yet they don’t provide us with information we need to make decisions to help them,” said Malcolm Funn, another board member.

The state board has asked locals to provide updates on the numbers of judges already recruited and the number needed. In some cases, boards either didn’t respond or reported “zero need for election judges,” according to Michael Cogan, who chairs the board.

“When I see a report that comes through with zeroes on it, it makes me wonder about what the person who is sending it in is thinking,” said Cogan. “Clearly they have to know they’re sending in something that has utterly no value and at worst is counterproductive. Yet they send it in. These are the reports we’re getting.” 

With less than 80 days until the Nov. 3 election, state and local officials continue to expect the ongoing pandemic to limit how many election judges will be available. Most are senior citizens who are more vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus.

Gov. Larry Hogan has given state employees leave on Election Day and encouraged them to sign up to work the poles.

Meanwhile, state elections officials said they will ask local boards to reach out to their respective school systems to recruit high school students to work the polls. State law allows anyone 16 and older to work as an election judge.

“They get paid,” P.J. Hogan said of high school students. “They get community service hours. We get judges. It’s a win-win-win.” 

Additionally, the governor approved an emergency plan in which jurisdictions who cannot fully staff all of their polling places can condense them into larger voting centers. The minimum number of voting centers in the state’s 24 jurisdictions must equal the number of early voting centers plus the number of high schools.

Cogan and others said they are concerned about news reports and complaints from potential volunteers in which some say they have been turned away when they reached out to volunteer. 

“My life experience, my professional experience is that when a person steps forward and raises their hand and says ‘Here am I, send me,’ you do not tell them to call back in a few weeks,” said Cogan.

Cogan and other board members called the growing number of reports “anecdotal” while not dismissing them as false. 

Kelley Howells, another board member, expressed frustration over reports about judges being turned away because it lacked information on where the incident occurred.

“It’s just, again, another assertion of wrongdoing that we don’t have enough information to track it down,” said Howells.

Cogan said if reports continued they would consider asking state Elections Administrator Linda Lamone to establish a phone number to take reports from spurned volunteers.

On Wednesday, the board approved plans from Allegany and Dorchester counties to open voting centers.

Allegany County is required to have at least nine voting centers. The plan approved by the state board includes six early voting locations as well as voting centers at the jurisdiction’s three high schools. A 10th location will be opened up at a fire house in Flintstone.

Deputy Elections Administrator Nikki Charlson said nearly 84% of the county’s population lives within five miles of one of the voting centers. All but the firehouse are accessible by public transportation, she said.

In Dorchester County, the plan is to open the early voting center at the county office complex as well as the county’s two high schools. Officials said slightly more than 72% of the county population live within five miles of one of the voting centers.