COUNTYWIDE : Volunteers Sought to Help at Precincts

Officials in the county registrar of voters office expressed concern Thursday that not enough people have volunteered to work election night at polling places.

With a little over two weeks until the June 5 primary election, more than 400 volunteers are still needed to assist in the county’s 2,100 precincts.

Frantic county officials have begun going door-to-door in an effort to recruit inspectors and clerks willing to spend 16 hours signing in voters, handing out ballots and mostly sitting--for nominal compensation.

Election officials say the need for volunteers is especially great in Irvine, El Toro and the South County area, which has a younger working population.

Officials say they have been plagued by a dwindling pool of volunteers among young women, who are more likely to hold regular jobs, and the elderly.

“Our first source of workers is those who have worked for us in the past, which is the retirement community,” precinct supervisor Deanna Werelius said. “But the fact is, many of them are getting too old. It is hard for some of them to sit for 16 hours.”

Don Taylor, assistant county registrar, said the problem has gotten worse in recent years, both locally and statewide.

Los Angeles election officials said it is the worst year ever for recruiting. About 30,000 people are needed to man more than 6,300 Los Angeles County precincts, and more than 900 volunteers are still to be found, spokeswoman Marcia Ventura said.

“We’re all pretty much facing the same problem, getting people to commit time and volunteer,” Taylor said. “I’ve been working in the business for 20 years, and every year it gets a little bit harder.”

Taylor noted that counties cannot legally close polling places because of a lack of bodies and that each year, one way or another, volunteers are found. Officials are trying to recruit about 8,500 volunteers--four per precinct, according to Taylor.

Besides the door-to-door effort, election officials have also mounted a telephone recruitment campaign, using precinct indexes, which list registered voters.

The result has been only partly successful.

“A lot of people say they are too busy or their health won’t allow it,” Werelius said. “We’ve also gotten a lot of answering machines.”

Polling inspectors are paid $50 and clerks $40. Volunteers are paid $7 to attend a one-hour training class.

Volunteers must be at polling places by 6:30 a.m. to ready stations for the 7 a.m. opening of the polls and must remain at least an hour and a half after the 8 p.m. closing, Werelius said.

Officials are urging anyone who wishes to volunteer to call the registrar’s office at (714) 567-7580.