Louisiana facing shortage of poll workers for fall elections, launches recruitment campaign

Louisiana has started a recruiting effort to find people to work polling stations on Election Day in November.

Election workers will help set up polling locations, welcome people to vote, and verify voter registrations, the Office of the Louisiana Secretary of State said Tuesday about the effort. Louisiana will pay poll workers as much as $200 on Election Day and $100 for early poll commissioners.

The office says more than half of the state's election workers are elderly and will this year be at a high-risk for the novel coronavirus, raising concerns about poll worker shortages. 

The state has for years faced a poll worker shortages for years, but the pandemic has exacerbated the matter. 

Meanwhile, Louisiana has yet to decide upon a method of operation for its Nov. 3 and Dec. 5 elections because Democratic Govern John Bel Edwards and the majority-Republican state Legislature are at an impasse on how much to loosen the rules and regulations surrounding absentee voting. The issue has gone to a federal judge, who is expected to make a ruling soon.