Service call

Dedicated but aging, poll workers look for influx of the young

Molly MacKinnon (center foreground) with Michelle Badger (left) and Emma O'Leary are among the more than 100 Suffolk University students who'll be staffing Boston polling locations today. (Pat Greenhouse/ Globe Staff)

When 20-year old Charlene Hay worked the polls in Dorchester during the presidential primary, she noted a key difference between herself and the other workers: Most were half a century - or more - her senior.

Those elderly poll workers, some who have shepherded voters through the democratic process since John F. Kennedy sat in the Oval Office in the early 1960s, taught Hay the basics. She learned how to handle incorrectly marked ballots, impartially guide non-English speakers, and deal with angry complaints from people listed under the wrong party affiliation.

There were also quieter moments. As in, really quiet moments.

"The poll workers that were there, the older ones, they all fell asleep," Hay said.

Midday naps, bifocals, and walkers have become common sights at most polling places in America, where the average age of the poll worker, according to the Center for Election Integrity at Cleveland State University, is 72. And while this may not be a startling revelation - who hasn't waited in line at the polls as a white-haired worker searched for a voter's name? - many communities are now suffering staffing shortages as veteran volunteers grow too old to continue in the post.

Nationwide, more than 5,200 polling sites or precincts reported a shortage of poll workers on Election Day in 2004, according to the US Election Assistance Commission. Shortages in some communities forced some polling sites to close. With record voter turnout expected at the polls today, Sally Hayden, president of the Massachusetts Town Clerks' Association, said a few communities have split the day into two shifts to help aging poll workers cope. Most, however, still require volunteers to work from 7 a.m. straight to closing at 8 p.m.

"It's a long day, especially when it's a busy election," said Hayden, town clerk for Rutland. "We have one precinct in a school gym where the lighting is terrible, so that adds to the problems for a poll worker who's been doing it for a long time."

And there are other reasons officials want more young people in polling places. Election officials are using more and more expensive technology in the polls, technology some older people may find confusing. Officials also think bringing youth into the polls will help promote the notion that voting is something for young and old alike.

To get young people involved with the gray-haired legions, however, requires incentives. Poll workers are recruited by local government, some as volunteers, some paid. In Boston, entry level poll workers earn $135 for working Election Day. Rachel Cobb, a professor of government at Suffolk University, has organized more than 100 students from her classes, as well as students from Roxbury Community College and Bunker Hill Community College to work at the polls this year. Participation is mandatory in her class, but as an added incentive, students earn extra college credit for their Election Day work.

"There's not enough people in the pipeline," Cobb said. "And the current population is getting older and older."

The new blood is good news for poll workers like 91-year-old Mary Frasca, a volunteer in Chinatown and the North End for more than 50 years. The grandmother of two uses a cane and fleetingly considered retirement this year. But the lure of the election season and the desire to get out of the house won out.

"I'm not a TV watcher or a bingo player," she said. "I like to do things that are constructive."

Born in 1917, three years before women won the right to vote, Frasca said she started working at the polls in her early 40s after her two children had grown up.

Frasca said it is increasingly difficult to recruit younger people - by that, she means Baby Boomers in their 50s and 60s - to work the polls because they're usually working or too busy.

"I think it's long hours, and they expect more money," she said. Even the most experienced poll worker does not earn more than $175 a day. Certified poll workers must attend a day of training, for which they receive a $20 stipend. And Election Day can be taxing. Most workers meet around 6 a.m. to open the polls for 7 a.m. And they don't go home until after 8 p.m.

Boston's election office must find 1,800 one-day volunteers, which includes backup workers to fill in for no-shows, to keep its 254 polling sites up and running.

Doug Lewis, president of the National Association of Election Officials, said most municipal elections officials can't be choosey when it comes to staffing.

"In some places, you have to put a mirror under their nose. If they breathe, they serve," Lewis said. "Clearly, we need all the help we can get."

Boston Election Commissioner Geraldine Cuddyer said the appeal of older poll workers goes far beyond their ability to breathe.

"They never miss an election. Rain, snow - you can count on them to be out," she said. "Young people, not as much."

Bringing younger people into the fold, however, has also become more of a necessity. Older poll workers often are uncomfortable around technology and have difficulty fixing glitches in new computerized machines designed to help the elderly and disabled vote.

"The younger people are more quick to pick up the technological aspect of elections," said Cuddyer. "We also want to encourage young people to vote . . . that it's a cool thing to do. It's not just your grandmother's election anymore."

It may be your great-grandmother's, though.

Teresa Palermo, 86, a great-grandmother of three, will be in charge today as poll warden at the Nazzaro Center on North Bennet Street. She has worked elections for 20 years. During this year's primary, she had two young people on her team. The pair, in their 20s and 30s, joined Palermo and two poll workers in their 70s. Palermo said the day came and went without a hitch.

"It's nice to see the young people taking an interest in the election," she said. "They're very good, very fast. Of course, their minds are sharper than ours."

Debra O'Malley, a junior at Suffolk University, said she will work at a polling site in Haverhill today. Two years ago, she volunteered at the Jackson Mann School in Allston. She was 19 years old at the time and described her supervisor as "a nice elderly lady, probably in her 70s."

The supervisor had difficulty handling voters who grew impatient waiting or became angry when they learned they weren't listed on voter rolls, so O'Malley said she helped out. "I work at Old Navy, and there are customers who are angry about things like the return policy," she said. "I'm used to getting yelled at."

Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.