Just as the number of registered voters in Lebanon County hit an all-time high this election cycle, so, too, did the number of student poll workers at various precincts.
Although no Lebanon County school district has an official student poll worker program sanctioned by its board of directors, several collaborated with Lebanon County election officials to supply poll workers for this election.
Around 50 students from three public school districts – Cedar Crest, Lebanon and Palmyra high schools – and New Covenant Christian School served Tuesday as county employees for the day in the capacity of poll workers.
Emily Ficken-Seitz, 17, a senior at Lebanon High School, was enjoying the learning experience so much that she lost track of time. She told a reporter that the first two hours at the polls “felt like 45 minutes.”
“I can’t vote since I am not 18, so I decided a good way to get involved with the election was to work at the polls,” Ficken-Seitz said.
It was the first time that the students interviewed by LebTown on Tuesday served at the polls, including Cedar Crest High School students Jacob Alnoor and Faris Omar, both 17 and in their senior year.
Just like Ficken-Seitz, both were learning about the election process while working at the North Cornwall South precinct located at the Lebanon Valley Expo Center. They said they felt good about being involved with Lebanon County residents as they came to the precinct to cast their ballots.
“My mom used to take me when I was young to the polls all the time and I thought it was cool and as I grew up, I came to appreciate how cool it is to vote and a privilege to choose our own leaders,” said Alnoor.
Omar said he also developed an appreciation for voting when he was young.
“I always watched the news growing up and seeing all of the political things that were going on,” he said. “My parents were also involved in it, so I wanted to come today to see how the process works and see how things work behind the scenes.”
Alnoor said two things he learned by working the poll was the diversity of voters and how simple the process is.
“I’ve seen so many different types of people who vote, from kids my age to people who are like 100 years old,” said Alnoor. “And people who represent so many different ethnicities. I would also say how simple it is to vote. All you have to do is bubble the names and turn in your ballot.”
Omar echoed similar sentiments concerning the voting process.
“I thought it was a lot more difficult to vote,” said Omar. “All you have to do is come in, show your ID if you need to, sign your name and you are good to go. Then all you have to do is vote.”
John Millard, precinct judge at North Cornwall South, said he and the other adult poll workers were grateful to have Alnoor and Omar with them for the day. Both seniors were at the precinct prior to 7 a.m., which is the time that polls opened to vote, and worked until they closed at 8 p.m.
“They are a pleasure to be around and work with,” said Millard. “I am a big believer in education and giving them exposure to experiences like this. We’re not going to be able to do this forever, so we’re going to need other people to fill in for us and learn this and do this.”
Lebanon School District employee Keith Rolon supplied 35 students to cover all 15 city-based precincts. While other students across the county served in various capacities on Election Day, his pupils entered the polls with a primary mission: to assist Spanish-speaking voters if they had questions about their ballots.
This was the third year that Rolon has supplied students to county election officials at city precincts, meaning they have worked at six elections. His efforts are quite popular with the students as he had nearly twice as many apply as the county could use on Election Day.
‘I think there are several reasons why it has become more popular,” said Rolon. “I think word of mouth between the students, we’ve gotten a lot of juniors to work if they are 17. I had between 60 and 70 kids reach out to me this year. Because of the need, I focus on bilingual students first and then fill in the voids by opening it to anybody.”
There’s also the appealing financial incentive for all the students who are county employees for one day.
“The fact that the kids are getting paid to do this, which I think is great,” said Rolon. “The county is able to financially support all of these extra workers and (county election director) Sean (Drasher) gave me the blessing to get as many kids out to experience this as possible. Kids also like a day off school to be in the community. I like it, for me personally, for the kids to be out in the community and meet as many people as possible. This is a valuable experience that we can’t necessarily replicate in the classroom.”
Rolon said he had at least two students at each city precinct and, in some cases, three students at what were determined to be “high-demand areas” to perform whatever work was required of them.
Stefan Wentling, a senior high social studies teacher at New Covenant Christian School, said he reached out to the county’s election office because he believes providing student poll workers is a valuable use of a student’s time.
“Most of the attention of politics is at the national level, but the local level is so significant and influential,” said Wentling. Getting them to see the process and how it works (is important.) My experience with local precincts is that there are a lot of great people who work there and it helps build and instill confidence and trust in the system as well.”
Mitchel Shuey, who is about to turn 18, is a senior at New Covenant Christian School and relished the opportunity to expand his interest in how government functions.
“I know that this was a really big election, I follow politics very closely and I wanted to do my part in helping to do whatever I can – whether it was handing out ballots or whether they needed me to do there,” said Shuey, who worked over 12 hours at the precinct at Bunker Hill Fire Company. “Also, I have interest in pursuing politics in the future, so I wanted to hang around people and learn from the people who run that kind of thing.”
Lebtown has previously reported Drasher’s desire as director of the county’s election office to one day have student poll workers at all 60 Lebanon County precincts. A reason is based on his work at the precincts when he was younger.
Drasher said at an event in Lebanon earlier this year to promote poll workers that he began his career in politics by being a poll worker, has done every poll worker job on Election Day, and is now Lebanon County’s election director.
“So you never know where this will go,” he stated at that time during the press event.
Editor’s Note: This story features content that was first published in LebTown’s live blog on Election Day as well as new information.
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