Poll Worker Quick Tips: Recruitment EAC | Helping America Vote

U.S. Election Assistance Commission

633 3rd Street NW, Suite 200 | Washington, D.C. 20001 

www.eac.gov

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July 2023 – v 1.0

Poll Worker Quick Tips: Recruitment 

Poll Worker Quick Tips is intended to provide election officials with sample suggestions to support poll worker 

efforts. More information about poll workers can be found at www.eac.gov.

General Recruitment

o Conduct a baseline of poll worker recruitment year-round. Increase resources as an election approaches.

o Have applications always available, including on the election 

office’s website.

o Develop a set of evergreen recruitment materials that include 

how to sign up to be a poll worker with items such as web 

content, social media posts, newsletter blurbs, mailing inserts, 

and flyers that can be used by the election office and other 

community partners. Refresh these materials periodically.

Community-based organizations can use your materials and

serve as trusted messengers to their communities about volunteering as a poll worker. 

o Have a standard presentation about volunteering as a poll worker that could be delivered by election staff 

to community groups, associations, organizations, businesses, service groups, etc. who have an interest in 

serving. 

o Reach out to your current pool of poll workers and ask them to reach out to their networks. Provide them 

with easy to share messaging. 

o Media campaigns can be effective. This may include unpaid 

efforts such as press releases, articles, and PSAs as well as paid 

media advertising including in print, radio, TV, online, even bus 

or shopping cart ads. 

o Participate in national poll worker recruitment efforts such as 

the EAC’s National Poll Worker Recruitment Day and Help 

America Vote Day: eac.gov/help-america-vote

Wake County, North Carolina buck slip mailing insert

Targeted Recruitment

o College Students

 When residency laws permit participation, recruit college students by building relationships with 

college contacts, including administrators and professors. 

 Urge college contacts to share poll worker opportunities with students via listservs, school portals, 

and other platforms.

 Ask college contacts if they can provide service credit for students.

 Additional ideas can be found in the EAC’s A Guidebook for Recruiting College Poll Workers: 

eac.gov/sites/default/files/2023-06/EAC_College_Guide_Report.pdf 
 Poll Worker Quick Tips: Recruitment

U.S. Election Assistance Commission

633 3rd Street NW, Suite 200 | Washington, D.C. 20001 

www.eac.gov

Page 2 of 2

July 2023 – v 1.0

o Bilingual

 When recruiting, specify the language needs.

 Produce translated recruitment materials and use them for

outreach, including to target-language media.

 Engage your current bilingual poll workers and ask them to

reach out to their networks.

 Pay an additional stipend for bilingual poll workers.

 Recruit high school and college students, as younger people

are more likely to be bilingual than the general population.

o Government Employees

 Request the jurisdiction’s executive send a notification to department heads and/or employees

encouraging service as a poll worker, with supervisor approval.

 Ask your jurisdiction to provide paid leave for employees serving as poll workers.

 Reach out to associations of retired government employees and teachers.

o High School Students

 Build relationships with school contacts including

administrators, teachers, and student groups. Reach out

regularly.

 Host a campus poll worker recruitment event in partnership

with school contacts.

 Work with school administrators to provide service credit for

students.

o Professional Licensees

 Reach out to associations of licensed professionals.

 In some states, licensees (for example, attorneys) may be

able to receive continuing education credits for their service as a poll worker.

o Persons with Disabilities

 Build relationships and conduct ongoing outreach to your community’s disability agencies, Centers

for Independent Living, disability rights groups, and others.

o Political Party Affiliated

 In some states, political parties have poll worker recruitment responsibilities. Many states require

bipartisan boards of poll workers. Share general recruitment information and materials with local

political party leadership and ask them to distribute them to their networks through various 

channels.

For more ideas, check out the EAC’s award winners for Best Practices in Recruiting, Retaining, 

and Training Poll Workers eac.gov/election-officials/eac-national-clearinghouse-awardsinformation

2022 Winners

2021 Winners

2020 Winners

2019 Winners

2018 Winners

2017 Winners