Poll workers play a critical role in elections. Having enough high-quality poll workers in each precinct helps to ensure that polling places operate efficiently and comply with laws protecting voters, cutting down on long waits and errors that can hamper voting. Keeping lines moving also helps maintain social distancing during COVID-19. Although poll workers do not need to be lawyers, lawyers often bring skills and knowledge that can make them particularly effective in these roles.

Volunteers for this project must be residents of Texas.

COVID-19 has made recruiting and retaining poll workers extremely challenging. In typical elections, older people make up a large share of the poll worker population. Because older people are at heightened risk from COVID-19, many counties have fewer residents willing and able to serve as poll workers. Even during a pandemic, safe in-person voting is critical to many voters. For example, black voters, hispanic voters, younger voters, and voters with disabilities are all known to vote disproportionately in person.

Political parties have primary responsibility for recruiting pollworkers for the Texas primary runoff, but the counties and the voters need our help to ensure that enough qualified candidates are available. That’s why we seek lawyers who are registered to vote in Texas to serve as poll workers for the July 14, 2020 primary runoff election. Although political parties play a role in recruitment, the Voter Protection Corps is seeking volunteers of any party or no party to serve as pollworkers in the counties where they live and vote. Each volunteer will remain in their own county.

In addition to serving the voters of Texas, these volunteers will help us streamline our processes for recruiting potential poll workers, which will allow us to help meet needs in many more counties and states for the general election in November.

Training will be provided by election officials. Volunteers for this project will be invited to an optional Zoom with Voter Protection Corps senior staff to learn about our nationwide efforts to protect the vote in 2020.