Wake County Board of Elections sees surge in young poll workers, other counties still need help

WAKE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) -- Many places in the Triangle seem to be doing well this year with recruiting poll workers. In Wake County, young people and teenagers are stepping up.

The Wake County Board of Elections said they typically have five teenagers but this year, it has 300.

"We can't even believe it to be honest," said Spence Berg, a recruiter for Wake County BOE. "It's to the point where we have to say, 'Ok guys, we have enough people, there's a waitlist at this point.'"

The 29-year-old said typically his office has 7,000 active poll workers across the county's 206 precincts but applications have doubled since January.

"This is a busy election, it's all in the news everyone knows what's going on. But then you couple that fact with COVID and people understand that our elderly members are most at-risk for complications. I think people really just want an outlet to give back," Berg said.

QUESTIONS ABOUT VOTING IN NORTH CAROLINA IN 2020? VIEW OUR ELECTION GUIDE:

For a better experience on the App, click here to see the experience on its own page

Durham County said it has enough workers for Election Day. They are getting close to meeting their goal for one-stop early voting.

Orange County has a waitlist of 800 people.

Cumberland County said it's very close to meeting its recruiting goal but they need more Republicans to participate in order to balance some of their precincts.

Hoke, Lee and Caswell counties report needing them as well.

Sampson County said it needs more young people.

Election leaders said the average age of a poll worker in North Carolina is age 72.

Wake County said the influx of young people has brought their average age down to 46.

ASK US: What are your voting concerns or questions as Election Day approaches?