County needs poll workers

Orange County is facing a big shortage of poll workers for the June 8 primary election and is launching a media campaign to recruit paid volunteers.

The county needs about 6,000 poll workers for the primary but so far has less than 1,000, said O.C. Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley.

Kelley said it is always difficult to recruit workers for the June primary.

“Everybody does everything in June, that’s the biggest problem,” he said. “People are gone (on vacation), people are graduating school, people are getting ready for weddings. It’s just timing.”

The registrar launched its media campaign Friday with print and Web advertisements. The campaign also includes telephone marketing, direct mail and teams visiting street fairs, concerts, college campuses and other places the public gather.

“It’s a pretty strong mix,” Kelley said.

Along with appealing to potential poll workers’ sense of civic duty, the campaign also will emphasize the fact that poll workers get paid about $130 for working Election Day. Most people assume workers are unpaid volunteers, Kelley said.

The message is “pretty basic,” he said. “It is ‘volunteer for an election, get money and be happy.’ … You get paid for this.”

The county will need as many as 10,000 poll workers for the November general election, so the marketing campaign will continue until late in the year, Kelley said.