SAVANNAH — Nell Strength’s 18th birthday is Friday, three days too late to cast her ballot in the 2024 general election.

Strength will spend Tuesday at a voting precinct nonetheless. She and 47 other students from six different Chatham County high schools are serving as poll workers in a program meant to expose Savannah-area youths to the foundation of the democratic process.

For Strength, this marks her second time working the polls. She was among 25 local students whom the Chatham County Board of Elections tapped to pilot the program for the 2022 midterms. Strength called the experience “cool” despite the 12-plus hour time commitment, and she is eager to work the polls again this year.

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“The day felt endless because it went on for so long, but by the time it was over, I definitely felt proud,” said Strength, a senior at Savannah Country Day, a private school on the city’s southside. “I had a really good time, and it definitely made it feel important.”

Credit: Adriana Iris Boatwright

Credit: Adriana Iris Boatwright

The midterm poll workers received kudos from poll managers and others for their energy, attitude and — perhaps most importantly given the election equipment overhaul of 2020 — for their tech savviness, said Shanta Scarboro, the deputy director of elections. The positive feedback prompted Scarboro to expand the program from two schools in 2022 to six for 2024. The plan is to go countywide in the future, with a dedicated staffer to lead the Chatham County Student Poll Worker Program.

Scarboro envisions having at least two poll workers from each of the county’s 11 public high schools, along with students from several of Savannah’s private schools.

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Johnson, a public school near the Savannah State University campus on the city’s eastside, has six students working the polls on Tuesday. A Board of Elections member reached out to the school’s administration earlier this year about participating in the program. Tessa Livingston, Johnson’s lead student counselor, immediately saw the benefits.

“This was an opportunity for them to have a hands-on experience with the voting process and also take part in democracy and the civic duty of voting,” she said. “I’m excited for them because they actually get to be a part of history. This is one of those elections they’ll be talking about for decades.”

Training, with a civics lesson on the side

Participating in the poll worker program comes with perks. An excused day off school. A choice between a $240 stipend, community service hours that count toward graduation requirements or extra credit points for social studies classes.

Then there’s what Scarboro calls the “civics lesson” that’s built into the training. The instruction focused on the mechanics of the process, including the workings of the voting equipment, but it also included a review of election laws and procedures and why they exist, with information going all the way back to America’s founding.

Connecting what students do on Election Day to what they’ve learned in school is the real reward, said Randall Martinez, who teaches government classes at Savannah Country Day.

“Nothing you teach in the classroom is as good as a lived experience,” he said. “They’re going to see how the sausage is made and be a part of the system even though most of them aren’t part of the system yet.”

Credit: Courtesy of Ali Grutchfield/Savannah Country Day School

Johnson senior Patricia Craine is familiar with the polls. She has accompanied her mother when she has gone to vote for years, and her aunt is an elected official, a Chatham commissioner who previously was one of four elected members on the Elections Board.

Craine labeled the training as “bliss” because it was so well organized and gave her a new sense of how important voting is to democracy.

“The voting process is complicated, but then again not really once you see it and do it,” she said. “Our generation should not be intimidated by it.”

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Call of duties

Aside from the 5 a.m. Election Day wake-up call, student poll workers are eager to put the training into practice.

Johnson’s Ashlynn Bowers is curious about what duties she’ll be assigned. Training covered all poll worker tasks, from parking lot attendant to “Georgia voter” sticker distributor, and Scarboro said the only restrictions involve some voter check-in assignments that require an additional layer of training.

Strength, the poll worker veteran at Savannah Country Day, said she wiped down touchscreens, assisted elderly voters with getting started on the machines, passed out stickers and helped another staffer with check-ins during the 2022 midterms.

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Her classmate Wills Davis is hoping for a similarly well-rounded experience.

“You see voters going into polling places on TV and in photographs on the internet, but I’m looking forward to being in the room,” said Davis, a 16-year-old junior.

Credit: Courtesy of Ali Grutchfield/Savannah Country Day School

At least one of the student poll workers will have already participated in the general election ahead of Tuesday. Andrew Semones, an 18-year-old Savannah Country Day senior, cast his first-ever ballot during early voting.

“I came out of the polling place like I’d done my part, that I’d participated in democracy,” he said. “That was cool, and I think working the polls, I’ll come away feeling the same way.”