Twenty Bangor High School students are among the more than 100 volunteers working the polls at Bangor’s Cross Insurance Center on Tuesday.
Students are handing out ballots, guiding voters to the elevators if needed, and even scanning voting booths for any signs of graffiti, said Joe Pelletier, a history teacher at Bangor High School overseeing the group.
“But, probably the most popular job is handing out stickers at the sticker table,” Pelletier said.
This is the third time students from Pelletier’s Advanced Placement Government class have volunteered at the polls. Students worked the polls in Bangor in the 2018 election and again in 2022, Pelletier said.
“I know some kids who have done this have gone off to college by now and I hear that they’re volunteering in their college town on Election Day,” Pelletier said.
The unique partnership not only shows students firsthand how local officials uphold voter integrity to make the election fair and accurate, but could also be a model for communities facing poll worker shortages.
Pelletier said he first pursued the partnership with the city because he wanted his students to see how elections work on a local level and how issues are dealt with.
Maisie Cox, a junior at Bangor High School, said she’s interested to learn how poll workers overcome hiccups in the day. For example, the students were trained on how to handle a voter who arrives without identification.
“It’s a lot more intricate than I was expecting,” Cox said.
The students must all be registered or pre-registered to vote in order to volunteer. Only one student is 18 and eligible to vote.
“He’s excited to be voting for the first time,” Pelletier said. “The students joke that he’s voting to represent all of us.”
Students will be working at the polls from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday, but Pelletier said some have already asked if they can return to help after the school day ends.
While Lisa Goodwin, Bangor’s city clerk, typically doesn’t have much trouble finding the roughly 150 volunteers she needs to work the polls at the Cross Insurance Center each Election Day, she said asking students for help is a model other communities could consider to fill poll worker shortages.
“It’s a great experience for students because it gets them involved in civics and the election process,” Goodwin said. “I hope it’s something they carry with them for the rest of their lives and they continue to volunteer.”
While senior Emory Martin isn’t sure what to expect on Election Day, he said he’s “excited to see everyone in the community band together for one purpose.”
“They’re representing their individual voice on how they want the country to be run, even if people have different perspectives,” Martin said.
