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Although Berkey spent her career in government and government relations, starting as a Nixon-administration appointee in the early 1970s, this was her first stint as an election worker. “When you have a candidate, and in this case an entire administration, instilling fear in people about whether or not the election process will be legitimate, that is very concerning,” Berkey said.

Election officials across the country realized early in the pandemic that the seniors and retirees who long comprised the majority of poll workers might sit out this election to safeguard their health. Younger people, considered to be at lower risk of complications from Covid-19, stepped up to serve. That didn’t happen by accident.

State and county agencies collaborated this year to increase their recruiting efficacy by replacing fragmented county-by-county pollworker recruitment and sign-up systems with a statewide messaging campaign and application portal. In addition, said Sam Mahood, press secretary to California Secretary of State Alex Padilla, “our office partnered with the group Power the Polls, to provide information they collected from prospective poll workers to county elections officials.”

According to CNN, Power the Polls is a non-partisan poll-worker recruitment initiative that is itself powered by high-profile companies including Comedy Central, Levi Strauss & Co., Patagonia, MTV, Uber and others. The group’s socialmedia-centric approach proved effective at attracting younger prospective poll workers.

“I started seeing encouraging messages about becoming a poll worker in my Twitter feed in early August,” said Oakland resident Christa Dahlstrom, a content strategy consultant who first left the political-action sidelines in the 2018 midterms. “They were welcoming and eye-catching, and within days they were being retweeted by so many celebrities that I like. So one night, in my election anxiety, I just clicked a link and signed up.”

Dahlstrom didn’t land a coveted poll assignment, but said, “I was really looking forward to seeing

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voting in action in a concrete way. I will apply again in the future. I’ve got the bug.”

Alameda attorney Todd Boley, one of the 300 lawyers CADEM

November-December 2020 November-December 2020

is deploying as poll watchers in CA counties with particularly tight races, caught the bug years ago, serving as a poll watcher in Look inside for: Florida in 2004; but he, too, felt a particular need to serve this year. “This election is unlike any other,” he said. “There’s a lot of concern [about election fairness], with litigation in the Supreme Court that’s really troubling, and kidnapping plots [such as the one targeting Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer].” Foley believes poll watching can and should be a nonconfrontational and non-partisan act; and that it can make a real Regional in Nature Activity Guide NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2020 Regional in Nature Activity Guide NOVEMBER – DECEMBER 2020 Look inside for:

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difference to election integrity. “Our focus as poll watchers is on making certain that people are not prevented from casting their vote, and getting all ballots counted,” he said. “If we do that, our concerns are going to be taken care of.”

While Foley and Berkey each have some anxiety about this election, they remain cautiously optimistic that all will go well. “I’m hoping any problems are just administrative,” Foley said.

Like Dahlstrom, who says her

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primary motivation for wanting to work the polls this year was “to take positive action to make sure this election is fair,” Foley and Berkey agree that inherent risks are less important to them than protecting election fairness. Berkey’s son, a paramedic who worries about her safety, told her, “You’re really putting yourself out there in terms of risk,” Berkey said. “But I said, ‘I have to do this. I have to help make sure this election is safe.’ This year is absolutely critical to our election integrity.” In other words, it’s unprecedented. l

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