By Laren Kowalczyk ‘07

Nationally recognized as a voter-friendly campus, Bowling Green State University recently received a federally funded grant to recruit and train college students to serve as nonpartisan poll workers in the upcoming presidential election.

BGSU was the only university in Ohio among 21 recipients nationwide to receive a grant from the Help America Vote College Program from the U.S. Election Assistance Commission to address the nation’s shortage of poll workers.

The C. Raymond Marvin Center for Student Leadership and Civic Engagement will use the two-year, $77,000 grant to establish a Poll Worker Program to recruit and train about 300 eligible BGSU students to work at polling locations in Wood, Lucas, Hancock, Sandusky and Huron counties. According to the Election Assistance Commission, 1 million poll workers are needed for a presidential general election.

Kendra Lutes, associate director of the Marvin Center, said that in addition to meeting an immediate need regionally, engaging students to become poll workers while they’re still in college can lead to a lifelong commitment.

“Working at the polls is such a unique way of giving back to the civic community,” Lutes said. “One day, our students may run for office, attend town hall meetings or advocate for issues to local representatives. Being a poll worker affords students an additional method to serve their communities in a valuable capacity.”

Recruiting will begin on the first day of the Fall 2024 semester and continue through Election Day. The grant supports poll worker training through the 2025 election cycle. Eligible students must be 17 years old and registered voters in one of the five counties the program supports.

In addition to tabling on campus and other recruiting efforts, Lutes said the Marvin Center plans to engage students by offering training and workshops on electoral laws, nonpartisan practices, multigenerational communication and multicultural sensitivity. Interested students will then attend required training at the county board of elections where they’ll work.

The University’s robust and student-led nonpartisan voter engagement program, BGSU Votes, will complement the efforts of the newly established Poll Worker Program.

Although separate initiatives, both support the University’s mission to create public good by supporting a healthy democracy. BGSU Votes’ strong student membership and presence on campus will provide an existing pool of engaged citizens.

Lutes said that in the future, they plan to connect current students to a network of BGSU alumni who have participated in the Poll Worker Program and are serving as poll workers in their communities to help foster lifelong democratic participation.

“We want students to leave BGSU feeling connected to their democracy and feeling like they have agency over what happens in their community, state and our country,” Lutes said. “Becoming a poll worker deepens the relationship our students have with the community and affords them another opportunity to engage civically.”