robin carnahan: investing in elections workers
The SoS Project's candidate in Missouri, Robin Carnahan, has started a smart new program that proves why Secretaries of State matter.
One chronic problem that all Secretaries of State face is how to staff their elections. Typically, pollworkers are underpaid, undertrained and overworked. Not exactly a formula that attracts new talent. And though pollworkers are at the front lines of protecting votes and facilitating honest elections, there have been few coordinated efforts to recruit competent folks to their ranks (one of the few is Pollworkers for Democracy -- check it out here).
To combat this problem, SoS Carnahan is freeing up $500,000 of federal money to train a new generation of student pollworkers. (See the full story in the Columbia Tribune). This doesn't cost Missouri a dime; the money was already alloted from federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds. Using HAVA money to train students -- a young, energetic, technologically-oriented demographic -- will go a long way to helping Missouri make sure that everyone's vote is counted in 2008. Carnahan should be loudly applauded, and financially supported, for her prescient decision.
Perhaps the most telling quote in the Columbia Tribune article is this: "Carnahan anticipates that in the general election, 80 percent of the state's registered voters may cast ballots." Getting to 80% turnout would be, well, spectacularly record-breaking. Pollsters and political scientists would probably disagree that Missouri can reach those heights. And yet, instead of planning modestly and risking election day disasters -- not enough pollworkers, not enough ballots, not enough machines -- Carnahan has wisely embraced the Boy Scout motto: Be Prepared. More Secretaries of State should follow her lead.
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