A shortage of poll workers and volunteers for election day has officials worried.

Currently, the number of available staff is less than desired as many older poll workers have retired.

As fears continue about safety and security at voting sites, one central Indiana county has finalized a pay raise for absentee voter board workers and election day staff.

The Indianapolis City-County Council passed General Resolution #42.2024, which authorized the move. Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell said the increase is well deserved.

"The city-county council worked together and realized that the poll worker shortage that we face," said Sweeney Bell. "Part of that is because it averages out to under minimum wage for many poll workers who we asked to work up to 16 hours at a time."

Per day rates for election-day clerks will increase from $100 to $180. Inspectors will see their rate at $200 go to $240.

A poll worker signs in registered voters, provides ballots, explains equipment, and monitors the voting process. Residents wanting more information can visit pollworker.indy.gov.

According to the Pew Research Center - 2022 Election Administration and Voting Survey, Indiana's 92 counties had between eight and ten poll workers per voting site in the 2022 primary election.

Safety and security at voting sites is a recurrent fear among poll workers and in-person voters.

A nonpartisan law and policy organization, the Brennan Center for Justice, reports election officials have faced elevated threats, harassment, and abuse since the 2020 election.

Sweeney Bell explained that Marion County poll workers have expressed their concerns.

"There are conversations that come up with poll workers during training about safety and security," said Sweeney Bell. "We teach de-escalation tactics and we teach our poll workers the different laws that are applicable for poll workers and voters."

Senate Bill 170 passed earlier this year and makes it a felony to intimidate poll workers.

She said that her office was happy to support the bill because "without our poll workers, we don't have elections, and we need elections to have a functioning democracy."

Sweeney Bell noted that law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security are on notice for anyone who harasses, intimidates, threatens or causes any sort of disruption at voting sites.

The League of Women Voters of Florida is taking a personal approach to restoring voting rights for returning citizens.

The group is sending thousands of handwritten postcards to people with felony convictions, many of whom are unaware they may already be eligible to vote. The postcard initiative is part of a broader effort to ensure people know their rights and have the legal support they need to navigate Florida's complex voting restoration process.

Cecile Scoon, copresident of the League of Women Voters of Florida, described the importance of direct outreach to returning citizens and said the postcard campaign has made a significant impact.

"I have personally looked at people's records and they were not voting for over 10 to 20 years, but they didn't know that their felony charge was dropped to a misdemeanor," Scoon outlined. "So, 'I never filed a court paper.' I just read their records and that person was voting, like, within a week -- crying, excited."

The League's efforts began with Florida's 2018 passage of Amendment 4, which restored voting rights to most people with felony convictions. However, added fines and fees requirements created barriers, and while the state introduced a process to verify voter eligibility, advocates said it remains too complex and confusing for many returning citizens.

Scoon highlighted the challenges posed by the state's requirement, emphasizing incomplete or missing records often prevent people from proving they have paid their fines and fees.

"We proved that many of the records were lost, but the government was saying, 'You have to show me that you paid it.' If someone diligently looked for their records, 20 or 30% can't find them all," Scoon explained. "So, how are you going to prove you paid something, then there's no record, or they paid, and the probation office moved and didn't keep the record?"

She noted the League is advocating for legislative reforms to simplify voter eligibility verification. Despite challenges, like returned postcards due to the transient nature of returning citizens, Scoon pointed out they have managed to reach 5,000 people with felony convictions and yielded positive results.

She added anyone who needs assistance from the League's pro bono attorneys can call 407-710-5496 or email canivote@lwvfl.org.

Arkansas lawmakers are at the Capitol today for the start of the 95th Legislative session. Over the next 88 days, legislators will discuss more than 2,000 bills that have been filed since November.

University of Arkansas Political Science Professor Andrew Dowdle said legislators will also attempt to implement bills passed during the first term of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

"Part of that is the Learns Act, where about half of all new state spending is going to private school vouchers," said Dowdle. "There was also an Arkansas Forward report to try to find savings in state government."

He said the report includes measures to slash $300 millions from the state's budget in six years, and a plan to pay state workers more competitive salaries.

One of Sanders' more controversial plans is to build a new 3,000-bed prison in Charleston, in Franklin County. Dowdle said the proposal has received pushback from residents in the area.

"Nobody seems to want a prison in their own neighborhood," said Dowdle. "You usually end up finding more support for prisons in rural areas at times where you end up having higher times of unemployment, and I don't think Charleston would really see itself in that light."

State Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, has filed a draft bill opposing the new prison.

His proposal addresses reducing overcrowding in county jails by investing in new construction, expansions, or renovations in jails with the highest prisoner backlog.


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The Wyoming Legislature's General Session starts Tuesday and voting-rights advocates in the state are watching several proposals they worry could hinder people's ability to vote.

Bills under consideration would prohibit the use of drop boxes to deliver completed ballots, reduce the accessibility of absentee ballot request forms and change the proof-of-residency rules for voter registration.

Marissa Carpio, policy director for the Equality State Policy Center, said the bills are priorities for the Freedom Caucus, a Republican faction that now has a majority lead in the House.

"They coin it as 'election integrity' bills to clean up what they perceive as voter fraud," Carpio explained. "Let me be clear, there are no widespread instances of voter fraud in Wyoming."

Carpio pointed out the bills would disproportionately affect elderly, rural and Native voters.

According to the Heritage Foundation, there have been four cases of election fraud in Wyoming in the last 23 years, including three people who registered with incorrect addresses and one convicted felon who cast a ballot.

Carpio argued the state's election organizers should get credit for their success.

"We have county clerks across the state that are so dedicated to the process of our election," Carpio pointed out. "They're real, hardworking people out there that deserve recognition for the fact that our elections run so well. And the upheaval of these processes could really hurt."

The Freedom Caucus has listed "election integrity" legislation first on its "five and dime plan," which details the five pieces of legislation it aims to pass in the first 10 days of the session, according to its website.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.