Power the Polls, an effort backed by major civic groups and businesses that recruited hundreds of thousands of people to serve as poll workers in 2020, is relaunching its efforts ahead of the midterms. The program relaunch, shared first with POLITICO, comes amid some early signs that some jurisdictions are struggling to recruit enough poll workers to staff primaries and the general election. âWeâre seeing already in the early primaries that there have been places that polling locations have been closed due to poll worker shortages, or thereâs been the threat of closing polling locations,â said Jane Slusser, the effortâs program manager, in an interview. Recruiting poll workers was one of the biggest challenges for election officials during the 2020 election. And a rise in conspiracy theory-fueled threats to election workers, from secretaries of state on down, have worried some in the field, who say the environment makes it more difficult to recruit and retain enough workers this election cycle. Slusser said Power the Polls would look to reengage the 700,000 people who signed up to be potential poll workers in 2020, encouraging them to get in touch with their local election offices to work again. She said Power the Polls would place a particular emphasis on recruiting workers who have specialized skill sets, like knowing multiple languages, that local officials need to run elections smoothly.
Pennsylvania: U.S. Supreme Court stay on undated mail ballots injects uncertainty into Senate vote count |Â Jeremy Roebuck, Jonathan Lai, and Sean Collins Walsh/Philadelphia Inquirer
The U.S. Supreme Court injected fresh uncertainty Tuesday into the ongoing Republican primary recount for Pennsylvaniaâs U.S. Senate race by temporarily blocking a lower court order on the counting of undated mail ballots, which have become a flash point in the close contest between Mehmet Oz and David McCormick. The two-sentence order â issued by Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who oversees emergency matters arising from Pennsylvania for the court â threw a new variable into the high-stakes contest by blocking undated ballots from being counted in an unrelated election from Lehigh County last November. It came just hours after McCormick â who has pushed for undated ballots to be counted â appeared to make progress convincing the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court to side with his view. The new cloud of uncertainty came as more counties began recounting votes in the race. Initial results show McCormick trailing Oz by fewer than 1,000 votes out of more than 1.3 million cast. The narrow margin has triggered an automatic recount to verify the winner, who will face Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in November. McCormick on Tuesday opened a new front in the court battles over which votes should count with a lawsuit seeking a hand recount of all ballots in 150 precincts in 12 Pennsylvania counties. The immediate impact of Alitoâs order on the Senate race remains to be seen. It focused solely on the counting of votes in a contested 2021 judicial race in Lehigh County. But much like the lower court ruling that prompted Alitoâs intervention Tuesday, its repercussions could reverberate widely.
Full Article: Pa. Republican Senate primary: U.S. Supreme Court issues stay on undated mail ballot issue
