ROANOKE, Va. – Election officials in Roanoke are preparing for voting to kick off this week with an unexpectedly high number of poll workers.
It’s typically a challenge to get enough people to staff polling locations, but this year, the director of elections told 10 News that people are signing up in droves.
About 20 people a week are signing up.
“There’s been a lot of enthusiasm for people wanting to assist in the process. People have specifically told us that, ‘We know that some of your officers cannot participate because of COVID,’ and they want to help so everybody has had a very helpful spirit and we appreciate that,” said Andrew Cochran, director of elections and general registrar for Roanoke city.
Because of coronavirus precautions, about 13 people will be staffing each polling location this year compared to about 8 in the past.
In-person early voting in Roanoke begins on Friday.