With a shortage of election judges in DuPage County, Clerk Jean Kaczmarek is looking for Republicans to serve as judges for the election on Tuesday, March 17.
On March 1, at least 160 Republicans were needed to serve as election judges, Kaczmarek said. There were 1,369 Democratic election judges at the time and Kaczmarek only had 1,093 Republican judges.
“Given our current number of actively enrolled Republican election judges, we won’t have even coverage of both parties in the upcoming election” Kaczmarek said in a statement to the Chicago Tribune. “The shortage of Republican election judges is critical. It is extremely important to our office to have Both Republican and Democratic voters equally represented on Election Day.”
Kaczmarek contacted the local Democratic and Republican parties to ask for volunteers. She also reached out to residents of DuPage County to find more volunteers.
"This is unusual," Kaczmarek said to the Daily Herald. "Usually, we have more Republican election judges than Democratic election judges."
Twelve early voting locations and 268 Election Day polling places need the election judges. Each polling place would ideally have 10 judges evenly split between the two parties, Kaczmarek said. Realistically, each place will have seven or eight judges, she said.
Judges are used to staff the voting locations and set up the voting machines and other materials. They also check voter registration logs.
In DuPage County, judges must be registered voters and U.S. citizens. They must also be able to speak, write and read English. Basic math, such as addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, is also a requirement of being a judge. The clerk's office website also said judges must "be of good understanding and capable."
Each judge will be paid $130 for a day of work.
If citizens of DuPage County are interested in being an election day judge, they can apply online on the county's website.
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