Lady Liberty is coming to town; you might spot her on the side of the bus or in your daily newspaper, beckoning you to “Give a Day to Democracy.” The 12-foot-long bus banners – along with print, online, radio and television ads – are part of an eight-week multimedia and multicultural advertising campaign the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters’ Office kicked off this week. It is a call to action and a recruitment effort, spurred by the agency’s need for over 5,000 volunteer poll workers to serve in 849 polling places for the Nov. 6, 2018 General Election.

“We wanted to evoke everyone’s love of country and sense of patriotism to serve the voters’ needs on Election Day,” said Registrar of Voters Shannon Bushey. “Service as a poll worker is a tremendous opportunity to give back to the community and support our democracy’s most essential freedom, the right to vote.”

Poll workers will be stationed at polling places throughout the County on Election Day to answer procedural questions and otherwise help voters exercise their voting rights.

Bilingual volunteers are needed in 19 different languages, including Spanish, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Tagalog, Korean, Russian, Farsi, Punjabi, Japanese, Hindi, Telugu, Portuguese, Khmer, Syriac, Tamil, Gujarati and Nepali. English-only volunteers also are needed.

Anyone can be a poll worker as long as they are a U.S. citizen and registered voter, a legal permanent resident 18 or older, or a high school student who is at least 16 years old and has both parental and principal permission. Poll workers will receive a stipend of up to $200 for their services, with a bonus for being bilingual. Training is provided and classes are filling up.

Those interested in volunteering are urged to act immediately by calling the Poll Worker Hotline at 1-408-918-9140, by e-mailing pollworker@rov.sccgov.org, or by applying online at sccvote.org.

Media outlets that would like to capture footage of poll worker recruitment or training should call the Registrar of Voters’ media line at 408-282-3008.