HANOVER COUNTY, Va. -- Early voting in the 2024 presidential election primaries is already underway throughout Virginia, and election officials across the Commonwealth are going to need plenty of workers to staff polling places heading into the fall.
Although there are elections every single year in Virginia, presidential races see the largest number of voters — by a lot.
Teri Smithson, the General Registrar in Hanover County, said the past few weeks have been stressful in making sure the process of those casting an early primary ballot is smooth.
"It’s extremely stressful for the first two weeks," she said.
What alleviates some of that stress, particularly heading into Election Day this fall, is her core group of election officers who make Hanover's election run effectively and efficiently every year.
Smithson said many of them go to great lengths to make sure they can be there for the long hours leading to and through election week.
"They will actually schedule surgeries around working in the precinct because they’re so passionate about serving their community as an officer of election and maintaining that integrity," she said. “Our folks are dedicated, but they need help. We need fresh blood in. We need to educate more people about what it is to facilitate an election.”
A statement election directors across the Commonwealth are likely echoing.
At each of Hanover's 26 polling places, there are a minimum of 10 jobs that must be staffed on Election Day.
Throw in the work of tallying and certifying results, and election workers can face long days and potential burnout throughout Virginia.
"To try and get folks to understand what it takes to put an election on, the best way to do that is to serve as an officer of election," Smithson said.
Unless something changes dramatically, we are heading toward a rematch between President Joe Biden (D) and former President Donald Trump (R).
The unproven allegations of election interference made by the Trump campaign in 2020 still echo in our political sphere years later.
"American democracy has always been a model of efficient electoral administration," said Dr. Bob Holsworth, CBS 6 Political Analyst. “At the same time, the question may not be what the rest of the world thinks but what Americans thinks about their election. If American begins to lose faith and loss confidence in their elections, that’s is very damaging to democracy at every level.”
The worry for election officials, Holsworth said, is that 2020 will have a chilling effect on the mostly volunteer corp of election workers nationwide, which would lead to the potential for staffing shortages.
"If all of the sudden, they believe they’re going to be attacked or their work is going to be seen as partisan, we have to see if we get the same level of participation from election workers," he said.
Holsworth anticipates the rhetoric, rancor, and emotions of the 2024 presidential election will meet or exceed those in 2020, especially with A.I. technologies that have advanced rapidly in the past four years.
"It’s going to be more difficult for your ordinary citizen to tell between something that is real or has just been created. So, we have the same contentiousness but an environment that could even make it worse," Holsworth said.
Smithson said they had a few election workers quit after 2020 citing security concerns, saying "they didn’t feel safe.” Still, she knows a surefire way for those who might be skeptical of how elections are run in Virginia to form an "educated opinion" about them: become an election worker.
"Once you see the level of scrutiny everything is put through, you learn very quickly. We’ve often had people say I had no idea it was this involved," she said. "It’s a sense of pride. They’re patriotism and heart they have that makes them keep coming back. Like I said, they’ll postpone surgery, vacation, everything, to be able to be here to serve their community and make sure one vote, one person is intact.”
There are paid and volunteer election positions available in Hanover County. Those who are interested can click, here, and search “Elections.”
For more information, call the Hanover Registrar at 804-365-6080 or email HanoverVoting@hanovercounty.gov.
Elections officials in every city or county in Virginia can always use more help on Election Day and beyond. You can click here to find the contact information.
It's never too early to check your voter registration information, Smithson said. You can check that here.
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