CHAMPAIGN — Champaign County needs about 120 more election judges to open all its intended polling locations on Election Day.
The county plans to have 64 election locations on Nov. 3; if unchanged, the current number of election judge vacancies would force 29 of those to stay closed, according to Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons.
Election judges run the polling locations, check voter registration and answer voters’ questions. They also stay after the location closes to tally up the ballots.
“Really, you can’t have an election if you don’t have people to run your polling places,” said Matt Dietrich, public information officer for the Illinois State Board of Elections. “It’s an important civic duty, it’s very rewarding and … you will learn a lot about the election process.”
Judges serve from 5 a.m. until at least 9 p.m. on Election Day and are paid $220 for the day.
To open all locations, Ammons said he needs around 270 eligible, trained election judges on board. He said he hopes to reach 300 election judges to have additional people on hand in case of emergency.
Champaign County currently has 142 election judges signed up and trained. Another 44 election judges have been trained but have not yet given their availability to the County Clerk’s office.
“To the citizens who can sign up, if they are concerned about long lines or concerned about what their experience will be at the polling location, then we need them to do their civic duty and to sign up to be an election judge,” Ammons said.
The first round of election judge trainings was Sept. 13-18, and there’s a second round Oct. 5-8. Currently, Ammons said 63 people have signed up for the second round. If all of those people show up, Champaign County still needs around 60 more people to hit its goal of 300 election judges.
On Primary Election Day in March, 15 polling locations closed due to a shortage of election judges.
Ammons said he is doing “everything he can” to make sure that does not happen in November. But if it becomes necessary to close any voting locations, he will do his best to announce those closures at least a week in advance.
Fixing the shortage
Ammons said the County Clerk’s office is asking those already signed up to recruit another person to also apply. Ammons also called on the local county Democratic and Republican parties to help with the recruitment process.
At polling locations, there needs to be at least one person affiliated with the minority party of the county — the Republican Party — for every three from the majority party — the Democratic Party. Ammons said there are currently 38 Republican and 104 Democrat judges.
Jeff Brownfield, chair of the Champaign County Republican Party, said he has been working to recruit election judges through outreach on the group’s website, at their functions and through the party’s social media.
However, he said recruiting people can be difficult, especially for people from older generations who might be hesitant with the technology involved in the election judge role.
“The process is not overly difficult, but at the same time, it’s also not easy to do,” Brownfield said. “So, it is getting somebody to take that leap of faith to be able to say, ‘Hey, I can do this.’”
To be an eligible election judge on Election Day — or for early voting — election judges need to apply, attend training and give their availability.
Other ways to vote
If some locations are forced to close, Ammons said the service at open voting locations would remain the same, but lines and wait times would increase.
He also said the shortage of election judges should not interfere with early voting.
To avoid possible delays on Election Day, Ammons encourages voters to use early-voting methods, whether in person or vote by mail.
“If you sign up to vote by mail, there’s no line at your house,” he said.
People voting by mail can return their ballots at one of 12 locations in the county, or they can place them in their mailboxes. Ammons said there are about 1,100 people signed up to vote by mail, but he hopes to see those numbers increase.
The Bennett Administrative Center in Urbana is an early-voting location that opened on Sept. 24. Other early-voting locations — including the Champaign Public Library, Illini Union and Tolono Public Library — open for all Champaign County registered voters Oct. 19.
A new app, Champaign County Poll Tracker, shows all the polling locations, drop box locations and wait times at the various locations.
“If you want to have a fun experience, you want to see what it is like to help your fellow citizens participate in our democracy, you want to make a few dollars, come on out, sign up to be an election judge and see what it’s like to be a part of this process,” Ammons said.