Power the Polls Announces New Bilingual Poll Worker Recruitment Toolkit
New Online Resource, Released on Help America Vote Day 2024, Provides Tools to Recruit Poll Workers in 11 Languages
January 30, 2024 - Power the Polls, the first-of-its-kind, nonpartisan initiative for recruiting the next generation of poll workers to help ensure safe, fair, and secure elections, today released a new Bilingual Poll Worker Recruitment Toolkit. The toolkit, released on Help America Vote Day 2024, represents the organization’s first batch of in-language resources to support partners and election administrators in recruiting bilingual poll workers.
“At Power the Polls, we are focused on recruiting the next generation of poll workers, including those who have the tech fluency and language skills that election administrators most need. This new in-language poll worker recruitment toolkit furthers our commitment to recruiting bilingual poll workers who can help their neighbors vote,” said Marta Hanson, National Program Manager for Power the Polls. “With this toolkit, election administrators and community organizations can more directly engage with and recruit bilingual speakers and help make elections more accessible for every voter.”
The toolkit provides social media copy and graphics in 11 languages focused on the need for poll workers for this year’s elections and how to sign up. Languages featured in the initial toolkit include: Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), Hindi, Hmong, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Punjabi, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese, with more to be added ahead of the November 2024 elections. Of all the requests from election administrators for bilingual poll workers during the 2022 cycle, these languages were the most often requested. All toolkit graphics also include in-language alt text for screen readers to help further enhance their accessibility.
The release of the toolkit reflects the increasing demand for bilingual poll workers to serve diverse communities of voters nationwide. Over the last three decades, the number of people in the U.S. who speak a language other than English at home has tripled, from 23.5 million (about 1 in 10) to 67.8 million (about 1 in 5), per ShareAmerica and the U.S. Census Bureau. In response to requests from election administrators in jurisdictions across the country, Power the Polls recruited bilingual poll workers speaking over 25 languages in 2022 — and the organization has over 50 languages represented in its database of potential poll workers.
To access the toolkit, click here. To sign up to be a poll worker or learn more, please visitwww.powerthepolls.org.
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About Power the Polls
Power the Polls is a first-of-its-kind, nonpartisan initiative to recruit the next generation of poll workers to ensure safe and fair elections for all voters. Launched in June 2020 by a coalition of businesses and nonprofits, Power the Polls recruited over 700,000 prospective poll workers across the United States during the 2020 elections and an additional 275,000 poll workers in 2022. Power the Polls directly recruits poll workers, coordinates with election administrators to identify and meet poll worker needs in local communities, and houses a centralized hub for local poll worker information. For more on Power the Polls, visitwww.powerthepolls.org.
About Help America Vote Day
Help America Vote Day is a day of action established by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to encourage people across the U.S. to get involved in the electoral process by signing up to be a poll worker and an opportunity to share information on how to register and cast a ballot. By encouraging more people to become poll workers in their communities, Help America Vote Day is addressing the critical shortage of poll workers, strengthening our republic, inspiring greater civic engagement and volunteerism, and helping to ensure election offices have the staff they need throughout 2024.