From MTV to NBA, Firms Recruit Young Poll Workers to Avert Chaos

Voting sites need bodies as president scorns mail-in ballots
Covid fears shuttered all but five Milwaukee sites in April

Election volunteers wearing protective gear sit at a distance at a polling station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 7.Photographer: Thomas Werner/Bloomberg

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September 4, 2020 at 7:00 AM EDT

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In April, Milwaukee showed just how badly things can go wrong when Covid-19 collides with an election. Many of the city’s aging poll workers were too afraid to show up, forcing all but five of 180 polling places to close and masked voters to line up for blocks.

With the virus flaring again and President Donald Trump urging people who mail ballots to also go to the polls on Election Day, an eclectic assortment of companies, civic groups and professional sports teams are working to keep a Wisconsin-style repeat from going national in November.

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