Video Transcript
At it, I'll try to promise to do my best. Hi everyone and if it is Tuesday, you are here for the so welcome to turn up Tuesday brought to you by the leadership conference on civil and human rights and which is powered by our partners from Insta and all is local. We're so excited to have you here with us today. Um this is a series of events that we've been doing. Thank you so much for everybody who has continued to come back and thank the new folks who are joining us. We're gonna switch things up. We are closer and closer to that big election day now wanna say it is technically an election day, but we know that it's we need to prep for an election season and so we're gonna start talking about what is that look like what do we need to make sure that our votes are safe counted that we have the successful um election season that everybody feels like they were able to participate who wanted to participate and that folks really get to live in the American dream of. Exercising your right to vote um so today is a big deal at it is poll worker recruitment Day a lot of the people that we're gonna be talking to you today have been co workers are in charge of recruiting poll workers and are gonna tell us what is a poll worker Um it is a very exciting position and as we know in on regular election years, uh we definitely need more coworkers at the polls. a lot of poll workers are aging in. Right now, um particularly with we wanna make sure we keep those people safe and that we're keeping our family safe and those who have engaged in this work for fifty plus years. um it's time to start stepping up and we need some folks who may not be as susceptible to kogan and other health related issues to start to fill that gap Um as we said you know in a natural election year, more than half of the cities and counties, I'm reading some of my notes on this one. I wanna get this right cuz this is really. More than half of the cities and counties struggle to workers needed to run a fair election, causing long lines and guess what folks those long lines tend to be the longest in communities of color and as we have talked about structural racism and what that looks like that is not a mistake as people are taking away polling places consolidating polling places removing drop boxes None of this is a mistake. It's all very intentional and continues to feed into the issue that we have for structural racism um. You know when you do get to be a co worker, you have a ton of duties that we're gonna go through today. Our folks are gonna tell us what that looks like and how to sign up um and how to do your part for our democracy. I know it sounds like Super Bowl. It's not so first I wanna say hello to Scott Duncan, who's the co-director of power to the polls and the leadership conference on the human rights as well. Thanks Scott. Hey. thank you so much for having me on course I chante Nelson our very own Wisconsin state director for all voting is local. Hey chante. Hi, hello everyone. Thank you for having me of course love to have you on all of these and I'm gonna say hello to Tanisha Williams, who is the attorney and digital campaign manager for the voting rights defender and prepared to vote projects. NAACP LDF another amazing partner with the leadership conference. Hey everyone super excited to be on. so we know that a lot of you have already dropped in questions. so thank you so much for your engagement. We're gonna run through some of the good information that folks have and then we're gonna. As many of your questions as you can please feel free to continue to drop and by the power of technology and the team working all of this muscle on the back end will send me those questions so we can ask our wonderful guests so let's get it started Co-worker recruitment day. Scott tell us what is powered to the polls doing and why our poll worker so vital particularly for this election year. Yeah, That is that is a great question well uh national poll worker Recruitment Day is the is the brand new holiday that we didn't know we knew we needed but we've got it here now uh if the. By the Election Assistance Commission, uh which is a government body to help uh help states and jurisdictions vote uh power. The polls is is a partner uh for that project and I are super excited to try to get uh signing up as many folks as possible to be coworkers um as you sort of uh there's been a huge problem uh that I think to the fact that most co workers are over the age of sixty and those are the folks that are most at risk for covid-nineteen. so what we saw happening in elections right after the pandemic kinda really broke, It's a to. Closings uh I like the more lines more spreading uh as we're trying to do is recruit as many of you as possible, especially young folks who have a lower risk profile to come out and be co workers. So can we dig into that a little bit? I think everybody is doing their part. Hopefully you are wearing mask. It's a sign of respect for the other humans around you um but then we're telling people sign up to be a poll worker where we know that they'll engage with thousands of people for long lines. How do those two things come together? Yeah question. One of the things that we've we've made sure as we as we're signing half-a-million quarter million folks is to make sure that they're gonna be properly protected with PPE, which is something we didn't see at the beginning of elections when they were doing this right, I think it might remember famously right they, they couldn't guarantee that everyone would have uh pulling I was right after the panic, There was a huge shortage of PPE. That's what happens um and and so that's one thing is that young folks are being asked to step up and we're gonna make sure that we protect them properly and second uh as we've. In those elections, the more you close polling places the more lines the more opportunities for spreading um so it's it's one of those things that actually that we're all gonna be safer and coworkers are gonna be safer. The more folks sign up and the more locations we have so we don't see the kind of lines and crowding, which could you make people unsafe great. Thank you for that you hear that they are going to do their best power to the polls as an organization if you sign up through them and we also have a link on the website as well with the leadership conference. sign up you will get p. We're gonna do our best to provide PE for everyone that signs up through these links now if you sign up in another way, we can't guarantee anything but if you sign up with us prior to the polls, you'll get some PE for your for your health. We know it's it's a scary time. so thank you so much for that. Scott appreciate it. I'm gonna kick it to chante who's actually been a poll worker um Chante. Can you tell us a little bit about what your experience was what folks should think about um as they're wondering. They should sign up and just kinda give us what that day was like for you. Yes. thank you. So yes, I've served. that's actually how I how I really got connected in this work. Um I started out as a co worker here in the state of Wisconsin, particularly in the city of Milwaukee and um as I entered into the space um I always say that say to individuals that for me, the atmosphere was like cautiously exciting but um and I say that because although I know that or I knew at the time that I was there and that many of us who were. We're there to assist and simplifying democracy for voters across the state um or particularly in Milwaukee. um I was still very much aware of the numerous barriers to the ballot for Wisconsinites and so the day um was filled with um I bet I began that day just assisting with voter registration and I was one of those individuals where I went from station to station. so I assisted with voter registration and I um actually pinned out the ballots um I've always been uh a real information based and. I've always been that person that sits in the training room when you're when you're receiving training because you do receive training if you sign up as a poll worker, you will receive training prior to actually working on Election day and I was always one of those individuals that when I'm receiving the training, I take a little tips that work for me and so um it's it's a day that's filled with great pride. great assurance if you will around what it is that you're doing because you're literally in a position where you're helping people um to to. In a space where they may be may not feel as comfortable, but you come to serve you know in my experience I came and I was able to help to serve them in a way that help them to feel a little bit more comfort in that voting experience. that's fantastic and how was how are people reacting to seeing you there do they know what's you were there for where people are happy to see you? What is that experience like yes, so a lot of times uh in a in a pre moment in my experience um I would find that individuals would come in and some individuals they. To the voting space and they knew exactly what they were to do, They know the steps to follow they were already registered. They already knew you. They knew that they were gonna come in. It was gonna be a quick experience and then you have those individuals who would come in and some although they may have visited that site or that in a previous election, they come in and they're a little cautious around what is the first step and so they look to coworkers um voters look to poll workers to help to identify what steps are there to help? Ensure that they are registered at the right space to help to ensure that their ballot um is is documented in the right way process that coworkers actually take when they provide a ballot to a voter and say, look for coworkers as a resource and the beauty about it is each location has uh uh kinda a lead which we call an election chief and each location has a lead and even as a coworker should you run into a situation where a voter asked you a question in? That chief inspector is always there to provide uh provide that answer as well as I know specifically in the city of Milwaukee, one of the the tactics that they would use is they would always pair a newer um coworker with a more seasoned learn as well as serve. So that's great. That's fantastic. so you got the training you felt totally safe. We're happy to see you. they need information you get. That's great. um and now we're really grateful to have you as an advocate on the local team in Wisconsin. so thank you so much for that. Um I gonna turn it over to Tanisha Tanisha. Can you tell us a little bit more about how co-workers in particular have an impact on Election Day? Chante went through kind of the personal experience. It's a coworker recruitment day um but what what does that matter when it comes to the actual election? The first shout out to sea for having the first hand experience um so coworkers can literally be the difference between uh a smooth election um in long lines, mass confusion miscounted ballots um coworkers I say are kind of gatekeepers to democracy right um when you walk into a polling location at Shante, Mitch, they are the typically the first person that you interact with um and so to have someone who is knowledgeable about what's happening um and and Can help the process is so important, especially now giving um and so, especially in you know what we saw in some of the primaries is that the poll workers with the folks who are making sure that social security measures were being taken um they had hand sanitizer. You know they get their first super early in the last ones to leave, but in our mind that's like you know uh uh a front line worker right giving Kobe we're we're talking about nurses and people who are interacting. Um ensuring that we can uphold our democracy means having folks who are willing to be on the front lines and make sure that the democracy is upheld and so you know we know that long lines are barrier. We know that you know, there's so many threats to democracy right now and so having the comfort of a coworker who um has a smile who has been there who knows what's happening? I think uh truly impacts not only the experience of voters in terms of being able to vote for that. Scott also mentioned. Health right like we wanna make sure people are healthy during this process and so they have such a huge impact on um the voting process that process the front line workers. Yeah. Thank you so much for that and we have millions of young people who will hopefully be voting and millions of them will be voting for the first time cuz they know what's at stake. it's November and so poll workers could really help you with that experience is like um when we talk. I'm gonna switch it a bit. Scott. Can you tell us what who would qualify to be a co worker? Um what do they need to be any other types of outstanding qualifications for sure? um so uh like so many things in our democracy uh with federalism uh it really does depend where you're from um there's no there's no one answer that fits all but a lot of cases you can be as young as sixteen, so not even registered to vote uh and you can go and have a role uh at your polling place, sometimes the official coworker sometimes it sort of like a um another role. For you so it's great for folks who are you know? I remember in heights, I was really excited to start voting uh and to become civically engaged. It's a great way to get that to get jump started into that. um additionally, usually you have to be registered at least in the state, but sometimes in the county uh where you serve um so unfortunately, you know I live in Oregon. uh I'm not able to go to Georgia or go to Wisconsin to go to a place and my coworker you gotta serve in in the community where you're a registered voter um and so some of those are some of the restrictions um actually if you head over to the power of the polls.org, we use data from work collections.com, which is compiled the. 4000 plus answers uh for all jurisdictions across the state and when you when you go, you'll get some information from work elections, which details all the specific questions. Um in some cases you get paid as well, which is great, you get paid for the training you get paid for your day of service, which can be really nice. um so you can get all those kind of particular answers uh from from work, elections.com or power the.org. That's great. Thank you so much and if people aren't old enough and I'm gonna just throw this out to all three you. of Either aren't old enough or for some reason because of state regulations, they're not able to be able to co worker. What is something that other folks could jump in to help make Election Day a success. So just jump on in I'll I'll I'll say share that link with other folks right um we are also in partnership with with the power of the polls and also more than a vote to try to get as many people as possible. Um register to uh I'm registered as coworkers, but we also partner with local organizations and there are local organizations within your state who will have managers on Election day, which is different than a poll worker. right, a co-worker you have to you know, go through a series of steps and and in order to actually officially be a poll worker. But a poll monitor is someone who volunteers on Election day um and you can be sixteen you could be. It doesn't matter you're you're volunteering to make sure that on election day uh of the ballot box are eliminated as much as possible and so there are local organizations um who are looking for volunteers on Election Day um to serve in person and virtually um we are too and so we we can, I guess drop the link in the chat with this voting that in the AC PLDF dot org um if you cannot actually uh sign up to be a coworker, they're. Other things to do awesome yes and we will be sure to share your link in the comments um posted by the leadership conference on civil and human rights as well. Um so I wanna you know again open it up a little bit when we talk about how important it is to be a co worker and what that really looks like and people coming out. you know there is a question about who's gonna be the coworkers right and who's gonna be lining up and I think when we've talked about it, we want you know we acknowledge that a lot of the workers it's got set and that they may be more. And so when we talk about young folks, we know that black and brown communities in particular are younger. uh we're also looking for work more. We're also you know the most at stake with this election. So can you talk a little bit about? I'm gonna kick this to chant Tanisha about what does that mean for communities of color to really show up to step up to sign up to be a co worker to help out and again we're gonna. Be able to provide you PE, so we wanna make sure that we're taking care of the health and safety of our own people, but can we talk a little bit about that and what it means for a black and brown communities? What is that risk really this time around? Um I will say I'll start with the last question What is at risk? Um I still vote, which is the campaign that we're doing this in collaboration with as a black woman in America um being able to vote is a pride. It's a joy. It's a part of my culture. It's a part of who I am. It's a part of I mean just being able to take. Ten year-old to the voting booth for the first time this year and watch him cast his ballot in February and that was his first experience. That is something that is a part of our culture right and so it's something about being able to walk into a space and see individuals who look like me whom I can identify with so individuals who are around my age group or individuals who are a part of my community individuals who can identify with me so that I mean it's it's it's a beautiful thing to be able to walk into a space where I'm already cautious around the process but be able to have. Caution softened a bit because I will walk into a space and I saw that I can readily identify with just with my eyes. I don't think about the person I don't know anything about what their background is what their culture is what their belief is. I have no idea about who they are and the fact that I can look at them and see melanin that looks like mine right that right, there becomes such a powerful experience and then when I see when I when I'm a young individual and I walk in and I see youth or I am a latin. I walked in and I see the and I see um those who may be whatever the nationality is right if I can see someone who I do even those with disabilities, I walked in and I see someone with a disability serving as a coworker covering for me as a as a voter. and so when I think about the impact that it has on democracy right now and today, it has such an amazing impact to not only um cause people to engage in the in the process of democracy but feel empower. As we engage in this process uh chante, I love it. Thank you so much um I don't know if you wanted to add anything more um to the other I don't think I can. I think some some um I'll just say just just passing the baton and in addition to that right like younger folks like freedom, summer our ancestors, you know fought for us to to be in this space. And so what does it look like to pass that baton and then take everything and uh I was fantastic. When we talk about this particular uh you know lifting up the amazing life and work of mister John Lewis and be on that bridge that we can vote and so that we can we can get out there and make sure that we are able to cast that ballot, particularly um our black brothers and sisters and people of color in different communities across the country. So we definitely don't wanna take that for granted. I wanna make sure we have a couple of different questions. That's why I've been looking down at my phone a little bit. I think we got. Of them about how to be a co worker, you've heard a lot of different resources here. We're also dropping them in the chat, and then, of course you can go to all of our websites and will they provide us with mass so Scott can you please reassure folks about the PE one more time and what that process will look like yes definitely um so we've been in touch with uh with the government agencies we've been in touch with corporations that are gonna be donating uh and we've been hearing loud and clear that folks will be uh provided masks they'll be provided. Sanitation equipment um II should uh one thing you said. I'm hearing this even if you just even if you're not going program, we're hearing that like and and resources are being made. so we're we're hearing that folks are gonna be taken care of um I it's a totally reasonable thing to be concerned with something that was really hard, especially early on in the pandemic to make sure that we have enough supplies for everybody. We're hearing it at least for the folks who are working to be supplies for everyone. So I just wanna I wanna really reassure everyone um that that that's the message we've been getting. From election officials uh that that that they got it under control so um uh with the folks who are willing to step up and and and serve, I just wanna reassure everyone where I'm at. Yeah. Thank you so much you do some of these programs. Obviously, I can't speak for every vial across the country. Um yeah, of course, but we really wanna make sure that uh folks understand ways to get the PP as people are working extremely hard because this is so important uh to get you that PE so please sign up at one. Thing looking at you Scott, that I wanted to kinda tease out a little bit about that is how long is it the full day? you know how long should people met if this is something they wanna sign up for sure and I hate to be the it depends guy, but I'm gonna be at depends guy again It does depend in most cases, though what I've heard from folks is that you're looking at uh uh you know kind of like a three to 5 hour training before election day, we sometimes it's virtual, sometimes in person and then on that I've heard sometimes it's around a 12 hour. a day. you know you show up before. Open at 7 AM, so you're there at six. Uh I spoke to I got a friend who's a worker in San Diego. He goes. I can get five and then he's leaving when the polls close at seven. uh so it is it is a hard day. It's it's there's I don't wanna I don't wanna leave you. It's not you're not just sign a petition. you're not up to those things aren't important, but this is a specific commitment and uh it it speaks to how important it is uh that folks can step up and do that. so uh we really really appreciate everyone uh who step up and be a worker because it is hard work but as as my co panelist said that you are, you're the ambassadors for democracy. The gatekeepers you're you're the difference between them seeing so I have I think a very long line. There's no folks that that look you know have the same lived experiences them versus feeling welcome uh having someone who can show them show them the ropes uh and and and you're that difference and uh we really appreciate folks who do that work. Yeah. Thank you so much. so you've heard it. you've heard how to sign up to be a poll worker. you've heard you'll have PE with the day is like with the experience is like and just how critical a role this is to the democracy for our country for all of us, please sign up to be a worker. Um I really again not trying to exaggerate the prints of this. It's just really really needed. Um we wanna make sure that we can move people through a line quickly. We wanna make sure that when people show up at the polls that there's people who look like them from within the coworkers, we have the more clarity we can get as people are also waiting in that long line to be moved through. so if you have been looking for a way to get involved, that is meaningful that is needy. uh if you have a lot of energy and because we live in a virtual world you. Really haven't found that thing working could be your thing and then you can go on like chante and continue your advocacy uh and you know continue to get paid for it so I wanna go ahead and close this out with the question that we ask and I'm gonna kick it to Shante um what gives you hope. What gives me hope is um the fact that we are in a position as a nation across this nation where we have the ability to really save democracy. HM love it. Thank you for that uh tanisha. What gives you hope? Um I'm from Mississippi and so II know we talk about passing and freedom summer and the folks who came before us um I'll say the things that give me hope is the courage and the fight that they had in them um and in the way that that courage and fight or showing up right now, right, we think about the pandemics that we're facing systemic racism at nineteen and all of that are happening um and and folks are still showing up right people are protesting and uh folks are you know courageous and thinking about. To tackle what's happening and so um I think at the core, it's the power of the people right like you know, Alex Walker said the quickest way we give up our power, so I think we don't have any and so the fact that folks are stepping into their power in such a uh a courageous way. I think it's what continues to give me hope uh thank you y'all are giving me chills. These are great. Alright. Scott Close The answers yes. So II think uh you know we've seen a lot of I think the right folks who are inactive in the voting space. you see like a lot of this is happening of course for the whole of the country voting against some people and uh you know uh the conversations on mail ballots and and drop offs and all that kind of stuff and I've just been really impressed over the last especially today over the last little bit of just like it feels like coworkers, one of the sacred thing to a lot of people. it feels like the people across the country. People are both political stripes agreeing on a silly. To say it gives you hope, but it doesn't happen very much um so it does feel like we all sort to recognize how you know how sacred and sort of how how sacred for our democracy being you know having a coworkers and taking care of everyone is and it's really cool to see folks step up around a common purpose. It's just it doesn't happen uh as much as you as you'd like, especially around something that's so important to how we are as a people and as a city. so um that's that's giving me a little. yeah. I don't much so again. Thank you for joining us today. you've heard all of the resources um please go to power. Polls leadership conference our friends over at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. There's a slew of organizations who are actually partnering with power to the polls who can provide links so if you have a favorite organization just log on there, Google on there, it's a national organization likelihood is that they have another connection to power to the polls or some information on how you can become a co-worker. So if you again, I'm plugging your website if you go to power to the polls uh you can. Find out information as he said they go through they do all the work they sort through all the information so you don't have to try to figure out all those municipal websites. you can know exactly what you need to do to be a co worker. What to expect deadlines all of that good stuff because it does vary from municipality to municipality The other thing about this is please if you are young if you're healthy um please really think about taking this day to be a co worker. As you said, you have a couple of hours of training beforehand. Able to work um on Election day and this is important, particularly if you really wanna find out what our systems look like and you wanna be able to you know kind of a test to what you saw. We know that there's gonna be some irregularities, but that's why we need good people out there serving in this positions to really make sure to vote and to make sure that everyone that comes into that line is greeted and that they know that their vote is valued so thank you again for joining us. Thank you to all of our amazing guests. This has been another turn up Tuesday. Don't forget to join us next week for leadership Conference on civil and human rights. All voting is local and vote. Thank you so much have a good night everyone. Bye.