Voters would see little difference, but conducting elections would get a little bit easier if legislation requested by the Tulsa County Election Board becomes law, board Secretary Gwen Freeman said this week.
“Every little bit of help we can get, we’ll be happy with,” Freeman said.
Senate Bill 266, by Sen. Dave Rader, R-Tulsa, would allow limited sharing of election day poll workers at locations hosting more than one precinct.
Some precincts already share polling places, but they can’t share personnel. Each precinct must have a full complement of at least three officers — an inspector, a judge and a clerk.
SB 266 would allow two or more precincts with no more than 7,500 registered voters combined to share not only polling places but workers.
In other words, two precincts at the same location might need only five poll workers instead of six, with one of the five — probably the inspector — going back and forth as needed.
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The request is prompted by the difficulty in recruiting and retaining enough poll workers. Tulsa County’s 251 precincts, for instance, require a minimum of 753 workers for any one election. Freeman said the figure is often higher, though, because a fourth worker is often added when a large turnout is expected.
And, with not every worker available for every election, Tulsa County tries to maintain a roster of 1,000-1,100 election officials.
“Interest in being an election official has waned substantially over the last few years,” Freeman said.
“For whatever reason, since COVID it’s gotten harder and harder. They get bullied. They get yelled at. There’s public backlash for just showing up and doing a job.”
Freeman and Tommy Neal, Tulsa County election support and security specialist, said they won’t put “pen to paper” to figure out which precincts might be affected by the proposed change unless SB 266 actually becomes law. Whether precincts share workers could depend in part on the type of election and expected turnout, but Neal said any voting location changes would be intended as permanent.
Neal said he does not believe the change would lead to longer lines at the polls.
“If it gets implemented, this won’t be much of a change (for voters),” Neal said. “It won’t be massive.”
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