The midterm elections need workers. Teens, veterans and lawyers are stepping up

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/07/ [login to see] /midterms-elections-poll-worker-shortage-recruitment
Help is wanted at many voting sites around the U.S. as the general election season gets underway this month.

In some communities, however, the ongoing COVID pandemic and current political climate are not making it easy to find paid and volunteer poll workers, forcing election officials to count on creative ways to staff up for democracy.

For the 2020 elections, some longtime poll workers dropped out of the ranks because they needed to quarantine or faced higher COVID risks related to their age, according to a report by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. Special campaigns urging voters to serve at polls that year helped many officials find workers who stepped up.

This year, high school students, military veterans and lawyers are among the potential applicant pools some local and national recruiting efforts are targeting to make sure there's enough staff to check in voters, issue ballots and process votes.