Hart Co HS Students Get First-hand Look at Election Process as Poll Workers

Just a reminder there is one more advance voting Saturday and that’s tomorrow from 9a to 4p.

Voting in both Franklin and Hart counties continues to be brisk.

In Franklin County, Interim Elections Supervisor Traci Creason said as of Thursday morning they had had 2,026 in-person early voters.

Hart County Elections Supervisor Robin Webb reported the total, as of Wednesday evening, was 2865 in-person advance voters and 303 absentee ballots returned so far.

Both counties are getting ready for the actual November 8 Election Day and Webb said this week she trained 17 high school students to be poll workers.

Webb said she first started using high school students as poll workers in the 2020 Election.

Webb held a poll worker training session this week for the students. She said most were enthusiastic to learn the workings of what goes into a national/local election.

“It was a good chance for me to teach to them the difference between a general election and a primary election as well as voting in general. The only face of voting that people see is walking in to vote. They interact with a poll worker and they don’t know anything that happened beforehand but it starts weeks before election day.  So, they get to see that and it gives them a chance to see what goes on behind the scenes before they actually become a voter,” Webb explained.

Another advantage to having high school students as poll workers, according to Webb, is that they are quick studies when it comes to learning the computer system and poll pads because they’ve worked with computer technology their entire lives.

In Franklin County, Creason said they are also using four high school students as poll workers this election.