U.S. Short at Least 500,000 Poll Workers(Claims exagerated?)

ABC News, San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 10/31/04 | self (Vanity)

[planekT]

...Estimates are that turnout could reach 120 million -- 14 million more than last time... (from the Chronic ill)

...500,000 poll workers short... (from the ABC article)

Saw this AP/ABC piece earlier today and wondered if it was another one of those "exagerations".

The AP/ABC story says we will be short 500,000 poll workers across the U.S. this year. They claim the number of poll workers is about the same as it was four years ago, around 1.4 million, and that they really need about 2 million this year to get the job done. The San Francisco Chonicles' projection of an increase in voters is around 14 million.

Four years ago. 106 million voters divided by 1.4 million poll workers equals 75.7 voters per poll worker.

Projected this year. 120 million voters divided by 1.4 million poll workers equals 85.7 voters per poll worker.

14 million voters divided by 75.7 comes out to a shortage of about 184,940 poll workers, assuming they are just as efficient as they were four years ago.

That's a long way from being 500,000 short as the AP story suggests (about 315,060). Of course, they also say it's because of expected problems with first time voters, the new electronic voting machines (which are supposed to be idiot proof and easier then punch card systems, go figure) etc., but I'm not buying it.

Both of these articles are pretty negative about the prospects for voting this year. Long lines, short tempers, possible violence, confusion, blah blah blah.

Frankly, if every poll worker had to process ten more voters on Tuesday, would that be a big deal?

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/10/31/ING579I04R1.DTL

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=213933

[seeken]

I understand that here in Baltimore, there is a shortage of Republican election judges (there's suppossed to be one from each party). In 2000, my wife, who was working as an election judge to learn about the polling place law for an election law class in law school, was an 'independant' but they made her be the Republican because of the shortage.

[planekT]

Well, I think they might be a little short handed in places. But how did AP come up with that number? It just seems a bit out there to me. It does help their gloom & doom theory though.