Elections office student recruitment ongoing
Joining the likes of Trinity and Ringgold high schools last year, Canon-McMillan seniors got a pitch from a Washington County elections official to help with Election Day duties in November.
Assistant Elections Director Wes Parry spoke to roughly 400 students over two days this week at the high school, where he gave an abbreviated and impassioned American history lesson as well as practical tips for Election Day, whether they’ll be voting or volunteering.
“Our elections and local government processes cannot be understood in 140 characters,” Parry said, lamenting students’ preference for social media platforms Twitter and Instagram for primary consumption of information.
“This country stops being America when you stop getting involved with the process. Yet, there’s this wall of digital white noise (of the Internet and social media) that obscures our understanding and our passion toward local government,” Parry said to a group of students in the library Wednesday.
David Gambridge, one of two teachers who hosted Parry’s talks, was trying to light the political fire as well.
“On TV (Wednesday night), watch the Republican debates. Get informed. At least get a sense of one party’s candidates and their stances on campaign issues,” said Gambridge, an American government and economics teacher.
But Parry isn’t worried so much right now about presidential politics as he is about local government involvement.
“Twenty percent was the turnout last election. Only 20 percent of people in the county are deciding for you, for your parents, essentially what is going to go on in your communities – the taxes, the leadership – everything,” he said.
Parry said he’s been able to rely upon roughly 35 to 40 students who volunteered in the past two elections to help as poll workers in local precincts.
“I received nothing but positive feedback on those students’ work. In a South Strabane precinct, I wrote a letter of recommendation for one student who stepped into the breach and volunteered himself the extra responsibility as election judge,” Parry said.
Parry said interested students should contact their social studies teacher and get in touch with the elections office.
“I’m asking teachers to vet volunteers a bit. We don’t want troublemakers, and we haven’t had any – yet – but we need people to show up on Election Day.”
The push for civic involvement right at voting age is both idealistic and practical.
“Our poll workers, their average age is over retirement age. And they’re disappearing. We have holes across the board in our precincts,” Parry said.
Pennsylvanians can register to vote online at www.votespa.com and can do so before 5 p.m. Oct. 5.