{"id":31394,"date":"2024-07-10T20:16:45","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T20:16:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/07\/10\/veterans-group-hits-goal-of-recruiting-100000-election-workers\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:45:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:45:14","slug":"veterans-group-hits-goal-of-recruiting-100000-election-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/federaltimes\/events\/2024\/07\/10\/veterans-group-hits-goal-of-recruiting-100000-election-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans group hits goal of recruiting 100,000 election workers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When voters head to the polls to cast their ballots this November, at least one out of every 10 election workers they see will be a veteran or a family member of a veteran, said Ellen Gustafson, the co-founder of a nonprofit that recruits military-connected individuals to volunteer at polling places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nonprofit, We the Veterans, reached its goal this month of recruiting 100,000 people to serve as poll workers in their communities. As of Wednesday afternoon, 136,815 had signed up. In total, about 1 million temporary workers will be needed to staff polling locations across the country this November, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those workers welcome and check in voters, issue ballots and explain how to use voting equipment. Having veterans and their family members perform those tasks lends credibility to the process and helps quash skepticism during a time when public trust in the government is low<\/a>, We the Veterans believes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou can be pretty confident that when you go vote, somebody in the direct line of your ballot is a veteran or military family member,\u201d Gustafson said. \u201cWe think this is a great opportunity to engage our population in an important civic service, and we think a side benefit is that having our most trusted group of Americans doing the work of running elections should absolutely bring more trust across America into the process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Widespread misinformation about the voting process first prompted We the Veterans to recruit veterans and their families to work the polls in 2022. That year, the group recruited 63,500 people.<\/p>\n\n\n\t