With a growing shortage of poll workers, Philadelphia election officials turned to teenagers to fill in the gap, write Alyssa Lukpat and Mariah Timms for The Wall Street Journal.

Ahead of Pennsylvania’s primary last month, the officials visited trainees at Philadelphia’s Abraham Lincoln High School. While most of them were not old enough to work, they were happy to help their neighbors cast ballots. They were also excited to get a $280 paycheck for their efforts.

“I might take my girlfriend on a date at Applebee’s,” said 19-year-old senior Isaiah Green.

The U.S. will need as many as a million poll workers this year.

Sarah Caswell, a science and special-education teacher at Lincoln High, has been recruiting students for work at their Philadelphia polling places for the last three years. She started after she received a call for help in 2021 from a local election administrator and focuses on students with strong attendance records and good grades.

“Now we have kids of all abilities, and kids of all language skills,” said Caswell.

During the April 23 primary, around 40 students and recent graduates worked at the local polling site. Caswell now hopes to recruit even more students for the general election in November.

Read more about teen poll workers filling the void largely left by Boomers in The Wall Street Journal.

_____