So, I’ve been sitting at home, thinking about the heroic voters in WI and the pollworker shortage.
Maybe there is something I can do other than stay at home and stay out of the way this November. I will be able to cast my vote without heroics because my state is sane, but while CA has no-excuse vote by mail, we still have polls, and they matter (homeless folks can’t get mail-ballots easily, nor can migrant workers, and we will still have a sizeable population even in a pandemic that will for whatever reason not have a ballot in time for election and have to go to polls. Especially the Same Day Registration folks.)
I did a cursory scan of poll worker laws by state, and they have a common theme — you need to be a registered voter in state (and often in same precinct, county, district or town as the polling station) and that usually has a residency requirement. You need to be over 18 and usually have to have a party affiliation and get involved early enough (many have deadlines in April) to get selected as a poll worker in any capacity. Barring being a member of the national guard getting called out in your state for this purpose, start with the assumption that you will be volunteering in your local area.
Here’s the US EAC link to getting started as a pollworker. It has a link to 2016 by-state rules as a starting point but the real place to go is your local state website to be sure.
In CA I might be able to do something like volunteer in Los Angeles or some other impacted region, but CA seems (at least in 2016) to have looser rules on residency than most states and you still go wherever you are assigned, it isn’t your choice. There are still deadlines though. I’ll be learning my own rules and applying today.
If you want to volunteer this way, start planning now.