18 | OCTOBER 22 • 2020
E
ligible voters are being
besieged by many
sources to plan their
November vote — especially
since a new state law permits
early voting by mail or in per-
son by filling out an absen-
tee ballot at the local clerk’
s
office.
Record turnouts have been
forecast with concern about
crowded polling places being
a health risk during the pan-
demic. Election officials were
concerned that poll workers,
who tend to be older adults,
might not want to participate
this year. However, some indi-
viduals and elected officials
from the local Jewish com-
munity are working hard to
ensure that Election Day and
the absentee ballot count go
smoothly.
The August
primary provided
a “trial run” and
officials in several
local communities
reported some
difficulty recruit-
ing sufficient poll
workers. Debbie Binder, West
Bloomfield Township clerk,
said, “We were losing them as
fast as we found them.”
However, since August,
West Bloomfield has recruit-
ed 200 workers and hopes to
staff two shifts on Election
Day and into the night.
Individuals who are interest-
ed in working at the polls or
processing absentee ballots
in West Bloomfield can email
electionworker@wbtownship.
org. Bloomfield Township,
Farmington Hills and
Southfield have been able to
fill their positions for Nov. 3.
This year is the first time
that all eligible, registered
Michigan voters can request a
mail-in ballot without provid-
ing a reason for not being able
to vote in person. As of the
week of Oct. 15, 2.8 million
Michigan voters had request-
ed a mail-in ballot according
to Jocelyn Benson, Michigan’
s
secretary of state. This means
that election officials face the
dual challenge of COVID and
a potentially large volume of
absentee/mail-in ballots to
verify and tabulate.
While some poll workers
chose not to return this year,
probably due to COVID,
others were inspired to work
for the first
time during this
particular presi-
dential election.
“It sounded like
they would need
extra people
because of all of
the absentee bal-
lots. I want to do my part.
This is very important to me,”
said Janice Allweiss Young,
66, of Farmington Hills. She
expected it to be a volunteer
Poll workers persevere despite COVID,
citing safety measures and civic duty.
SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
IN
THED
JEWS
Debbie
Binder
Janice
Allweiss
Young
Election Day Heroes
continued on page 19