ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Election Day is inching closer and Bernalillo County is getting ready. “We are working through the Secretary of State’s office to get everything lined up for absentee balloting and all of our polls cleaned and ready to go, so we’re anxious for this to come about,” said Linda Stover, Bernalillo County’s County Clerk. But there is still one need.
“We’re in desperate need of poll workers,” said Stover. The county is still short 742 poll workers, which Stover said is a bigger need than in past election years.
“Some of our people are older. In fact, most of them are older, and they’re just getting too old to come and work long hours,” said Stover. “COVID scared some. So, we need to refresh this. We used to have about a 3,000 backlog of people we could call and that’s gone way, way down.”
To pull in more poll workers, the county is doing everything from talking to service organizations to calling up past volunteers. With recent unsubstantiated claims of fraudulent elections, Stover says working on an election can give peace of mind.
“With all the hucka-baloo going around right now about elections it’s great to have people come in and look and see what we’re doing. The more eyes on an election the better it is,” said Stover. She said she’s confident they’ll get enough poll workers in time, but if not, county staff will be diverted to the clerk’s office to help with elections.
“Our elections are run by our citizens; by our residents of Bernalillo County,” said Stover. “Once you do this, you’ll understand the process and you’ll understand really and truly just how open and complete and transparent it is.”
Anyone interested in being a poll worker in the county must be 18 years old, a U.S. citizen, and a resident of Bernalillo County. They can visit this site or call 243-VOTE, option 4.
Absentee voting starts on October 11. Election Day is November 8.
