More Help Needed in Both Rural and Urban Counties

COLUMBUS – With twenty days until election day, Ohio's Poll Worker Tracker shows 31,433 Ohioans have signed up to serve as a poll worker in the May 3rd primary election. The minimum number of poll workers needed statewide is 30,295. Twenty-four counties have met the minimum number of poll workers needed.

In order to ensure enough poll workers are available in case of an emergency, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has set a goal of 34,846 poll workers statewide, or 115% of the minimum. Twenty-one counties have already met that goal. Those counties are: Allen County, Athens County, Belmont County, Brown County, Clinton County, Fairfield County, Fayette County, Gallia County, Hocking County, Holmes County, Madison County, Meigs County, Mercer County, Morgan County, Noble County, Pickaway County, Portage County, Ross County, Shelby County, Union County, and Wood County.

“This is such a strong start in our effort to ensure every polling location has the workforce they need to serve the voters on May 3rd,” said LaRose. “Our poll worker tracker is doing its job – letting us know which counties are in good shape, and which need a little more support to get where they need to be. We’ll make sure that happens.”

Ohioans looking to serve as a poll worker may sign up at VoteOhio.gov/DefendDemocracy. Poll workers are financially compensated for their time on Election Day.

The county breakdown can be seen on Ohio’s Poll Worker Tracker. The tracker, which was started in 2020 by Secretary LaRose, continues to give Ohioans, counties, and partner organizations clear goals for poll worker recruitment for the May 3rd primary election.

Each election, thousands of Ohioans dedicate themselves to sustaining the backbone of democracy — our election process. Poll workers help ensure that our elections are fair, and in doing so, maintain the traditions of our past and our hope for the future.

In an effort to continue providing voters with unprecedented levels of transparency, Secretary LaRose is providing Ohioans with weekly poll worker updates as reported by the 88 county boards of elections. Sharing the data also allows Ohio counties to be held accountable as the fall election approaches.

Notable data are the following:

• Goal for Committed and Trained Poll Workers: 34,846
• Minimum Poll Workers Required: 30,295
• Current Number of Committed Poll Workers: 31,433
• Ohio counties are 78.2% of the way to reaching our statewide goal
• 13,590 poll workers have already completed their training

# # #