Veterans and military families are falling in by the thousands to staff polling places across the country, according to a veterans’ coalition.
Vet the Vote coalition recently announced that after its recruitment efforts, 163,000 veterans and military families will work on Election Day to help facilitate the vote.
This number far exceeds the 63,500 veterans and military family members who were successfully recruited to work in polling places during the 2022 midterm elections, when the campaign was first launched.
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According to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), 917,694 poll workers worked during the 2016 election and a majority of jurisdictions polled reported that it was “very difficult” or “somewhat difficult” to obtain a sufficient number of poll workers.
“Vet the Vote is a national non-partisan, nonprofit campaign to recruit veterans and military family members to be the next generation of poll workers,” reads their mission statement.
A poll worker, center, works at a table as voters prepare to cast their ballots during early voting in the general election, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, in Fall River, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
The coalition represents 43 advocacy groups and other organizations. It has recently partnered with sponsors like NASCAR, the NFL and the NBA.
“Our community makes for a good workforce” to take on the nuts and bolts of running one of the more than 132,000 polling stations expected to be recording votes next Tuesday, said Ellen Gustafson, a Navy spouse and co-founder of the Vet the Vote organization to Military.com.
According to Gustafson, the especially charged political environment going into next Tuesday has posed a challenge uniquely suited to veterans and military families.
A poll worker holds an American flag near a voting booth at a polling location inside Seafood City Market during the last day of early voting in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, on Friday, Nov. 1, 2024. Donald Trump and his allies are telling supporters that they’re on pace for a runaway victory barring fraud, setting the stage for outrage and legal challenges if the election doesn’t break in favor of Republicans. (Ian Maule/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“Yeah, we sure are hearing about threats. There are people questioning the integrity of our elections,” said Gustafson to Military.com, and “that includes questioning the integrity of the poll workers who do the work. I think we are comfortable with the idea that sometimes situations are challenging and the first goal is to de-escalate.”
Most poll workers sign up for long days, with most starting out at 5:30 am. Over half of poll workers in 2016 according to the EAC were aged 60 or over.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5.
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Vet the Vote did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
