COLUMBIA, S.C. — Board of Elections offices across the Midlands are still searching for poll workers as we get closer to election day, and some are searching for more than others.
"Friday, we think it was around 800, so I think we are on pace with getting what we need," said the Richland County Board of Elections Interim Director, Terry Graham.
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Graham says it normally takes 1,200 poll workers to staff the polls but to have backups in case a poll worker cannot make it and to comfortably have enough people, they say 1,500 would be ideal.
"In talking to some of my colleagues in other counties, they are having the same issues trying to find poll workers," Graham stated. "Because we are a bigger county, ours are magnified a little bit more."
Graham also told us that they are still going through applications at the moment and hope to have the needed personnel in place come November 8. He added that the National Guard has contacted them to lend a helping hand if necessary.
"I am confident that we will have what we need before election day," he said.
Meanwhile, the State Election Commission says they are not seeing an emergency need for poll workers across the state.
To avoid long lines at the polls on election day Chris Whitmire with the state election commission says they need poll workers to help move things along.
"We're not hearing from counties that there is a dire need for poll managers," Whitmire explained. "We still encourage people who want to volunteer to be poll workers to do that."
Different counties across the Midlands have different deadlines to become poll workers.
The deadline to apply to be a poll worker in Richland County is this Friday, October 7.
WLTX reached out to all of the surrounding counties in the Midlands about how they are doing in terms of poll worker recruitment and heard back from six out of 11 counties.
Sumter County says they normally need 300 people to staff their polls and have everyone they need to meet staffing needs this year. However, they are still looking for backup people to fill in for poll workers who cannot serve Early Voting days or on Election Day.
Lexington County says they normally need 850 poll workers and are still looking for more.
Fairfield County says they normally have 99 workers to staff precincts and they have filled all their spots.
Saluda County says it takes 39 poll managers to help make everything work. They already have everyone they need.
Newberry County explained that their precincts are fully staffed and that they already have 25 backup workers as well.