Knox County poll workers keep early voting running as turnout continues to outpace last midterm election

What This Story Is About

• Some Knox County poll workers have returned year after year to help run early voting, including one who has worked every election since 2016.

Why It Matters

• Workers like Elsie Gabrielson and Andrew Erath are among roughly 180 people staffing Knox County’s 11 early voting locations, putting in long days to help residents vote.

What Happens Next

• Early voting continues through Thursday. Gabrielson said she plans to keep working elections as long as the commission will have her.

For Context

• Election Day is Nov. 3.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Roughly 180 workers are staffing Knox County’s 11 early voting locations as turnout continues to outpace the last midterm election, according to Knox County Administrator of Elections Chris Davis.

Davis said each polling location needs between 12 and 20 workers to keep operations running, with some locations, like Downtown West, processing about 200 voters an hour.

“It takes some really good people, and a lot of them, who are willing to work 14 days, who are willing to work 8 and 9 hour days, who are dealing with voter after voter after voter,” Davis said.

Staffing the polls

Davis said the county has generally had more people willing to work the polls than it has needed, though staffing can shift quickly. He said four workers called out sick at one polling location, forcing the commission to find replacements.

“We’ve been very fortunate in having more of a supply than we do a demand,” Davis said. “I will tell you that we’ve had a couple of issues just literally in the last 24 hours with people calling in sick. One polling place had like four people sick today. So we had to kind of rush and staff that one a little bit. But overall, we’ve had a really good turnout.”

Davis said the commission is always looking for additional workers, including people as young as 16 who are not yet registered to vote, but can fill out paperwork to work the polls.

He said pay for early voting workers is about $14 an hour, while election day workers make between $150 and $175.

A decade behind the scenes

Elsie Gabrielson has worked Knox County elections since the 2016 presidential election, most recently at the Downtown West early voting location.

“I wanted to be involved with the community. And so, a friend had told me that they were looking for people to help out with the presidential election in 2016. And so, I got involved, and I’ve been doing it since,” Gabrielson said. “I love it. It’s a great way to give back to the community.”

Gabrielson said the connections she has made with voters have extended beyond the polling place.

“He came running over and said, ‘oh, you were at the elections.’ I brought my mom in the back door. Because if somebody has some mobility issues, we try to accommodate them. And then he recognized me. I had my visor on just playing pickleball. And he came over to thank me for what a great job this precinct does,” Gabrielson said.

Andrew Erath, a fail-safe clerk at Downtown West, has worked elections since 2020. He said he has gotten to know many of the same workers over the years.

“It’s like going to the gym. You see the same people all the time, so it’s almost like a little family,” Erath said.

Turnout and the final stretch

Davis said more than 65,000 ballots have been cast in Knox County through early voting, absentee and nursing home voting. He said the county is on pace to see between 90,000 and 95,000 ballots cast before early voting ends Thursday.

“Because like I said, people can just get sick at the drop of a hat, that type of thing. So we do need backups. And so we want to make sure that we’re fully staffed. And so it does, you know, longer lines and more people do mean we need more people generally,” Davis said.

Davis said staffing will grow to roughly 800 workers on election day.

Early voting continues through Thursday. The Knox County Election Commission says it is accepting applications from people interested in working future elections, including teenagers as young as 16 with proper paperwork.