Following staffing problems that hampered the state’s primary election, Delaware County is intensifying efforts to hire poll workers for the November presidential election, writes Ximena Conde and Zachariah Hughes for WHYY.

County officials are focusing on bringing in a new wave of younger poll workers as well as coaxing more senior workers to return to the polling places in November. So far, some younger people have already stepped up to the task.

”I thought that the primary was a disaster,” said 38-year-old Margaret Matteson of Ridley Township. “The fact that they were so short of poll workers seemed at least part of it.”

To help avoid the same issues in November, Matteson has already applied to work in the general election.

While she stayed away from in-person polling stations due to the coronavirus worries in June, she now feels enough safety measures have been taken to make working in the general election a manageable risk.

“I reflected on the fact that people died for the right to vote, and the least I could do was try and serve as a poll worker,” said Matteson.

Read more about the efforts to hire poll workers at WHYY by clicking here.