Philadelphia teacher encourages students to work at polling places ahead of November election

By Josh Sanders

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    PHILADELPHIA (KYW) — Philadelphia still needs thousands of November election workers less than two months away from the big vote.

According to the Office of City Commissioners, Philadelphia needs 8,500 poll workers for 1,700 polling locations. As of Thursday, they have recruited 4,364 workers.

The state’s Student Poll Worker Program allows 17-year-old students the opportunity to work the polls on Election Day.

“One of the challenges with young people is feeling disconnected from our political system. In a lot of cases, feeling like they are not reflected or it doesn’t represent them,” said Charlie McGeehan, a social science teacher at the Academy at Palumbo.

McGeehan has worked at the Academy of Palumbo for four years and encourages his students to engage with the election process.

“A lot of the work that I try to do is finding ways to connect what’s going on in politics to them,” McGeehan said.

He says 30 to 40 students have taken advantage of the program.

“In the process of getting paid, they get to see how our elections work from the inside. I think it’s a great way for them to feel connected to the elections,” said McGeehan.

According to the city, so far 25 people have applied to the program for the upcoming presidential election.

“You get to meet all of these new people when they come into vote, you get to work with all of your other poll workers and you get to see how the election works up close,” said Kayla Ao, a senior at Academy at Palumbo.

“We’re the ones that’s going to have to live with the different policies and stuff in our lifetime,” said fellow senior Briannia Robinson.

Both Robinson and Ao have worked elections in the past and will be voting this November.

“My hopes for the future is that young people see why it’s important to vote for people and even if you can’t vote, young people educate themselves, so they encourage adults to vote because some people’s parents don’t really vote,” Robinson said.

Both seniors hope their example inspires others to get involved — a mission accomplished for McGeehan.

“You can be engaged in democracy all the time,” McGeehan said. “It’s not just when an election comes up. It’s not just when you show up to cast your vote, but it’s also the way in which you live your life and interact with your elected officials and lobby for the things you’re hoping for.”

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