Santa Clara County is facing a critical shortage of poll workers with just 19 days to go until the June 5 primary, according to the county registrar of voters.
As of Thursday morning, county officials say they're still 1,400 election officers short of their goal of 4,000 — but all polling places will be open on Election Day despite the shortage.
Election officers are especially needed in Palo Alto, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills and Saratoga, as well as San Jose's Willow Glen, Almaden and Downtown neighborhoods, according to the county.
The registrar of voters is also seeking bilingual workers who can speak Spanish, Vietnamese, Cantonese, Mandarin, Taiwanese, Tagalog, Korean, Russian Farsi, Punjabi, Japanese, Hindi, Telugu, Portuguese, Khmer, Cyriac, Tamil, Gujarati or Nepali.
Volunteers are paid a stipend of up to $200. They must be citizens who are 18 or older and registered to vote. Legal permanent residents and high school students 16 or over may also be eligible.
Anyone who is interested can sign up online or call (408) 299-7655.
