Facebook has begun recruiting election officials, offering loose classified ads to state election officials to help them fill jobs at polling stations in a very election year.
“With less than 3 months to go until the election, we are seeing a large shortage of elections in our voting booths across the country, as we are in a global pandemic,” said Facebook spokesman Robert Traynham.
The California-founded generation giant has partnered with the nonpartisan Fair Election Center to learn the percentage of where to run to be a voting agent based on a user’s location. Notifications posted on Saturday’s news for all Facebook users over the age of 18. founded in the United States, directing those who clicked on job data at their state’s electoral offices.
The local effort to fill 11,000 vacancies is going well, according to Harris County Secretary Chris Hollins, who said he did not expect a shortage, which was just a matter of filtering candidates, many of whom have already worked at the polls. .
“We were pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm that other people generated to be election workers,” Hollins said. “We first filed the call a month ago and part ago, the prompt reaction of 500 to 700 requests according to the day. “
To date, the workplace has received 9,000 applicants. Wages start at $17 an hour and Hollins hires for several shifts and seven days a week for 3 weeks of early voting. To be eligible, applicants must be at least 18 years of age and registered to vote in Harris County, and may not be a parent or worker of a candidate or have a prior conviction for voter fraud.
“People are just excited and more politically engaged than ever and they need to be a part of the story that is going to happen this year,” Hollins said. “In the days of COVID-19 and the time of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and news of (Nicolás) Chávez . . . I believe that other people should be part of the replacement that they need to see in society and fulfill their civic duty and be part of the elections.
In addition to recruiting election agents, Facebook grants paid permissions to tens of thousands of its workers if they need to run polling stations on Election Day, and has established a separate initiative to provide data that allows others to register to vote.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has received strong complaints from the public and lawmakers in recent years about the site’s inability to remove and block fake news and propaganda before the election.
“Mark has been very transparent that we are not the de facto arbiters regarding political announcements,” said Traynham, the company’s spokesman. “It’s up to the electorate to make that decision. “
“Based in 2016 and 2018, we have learned a lot in terms of bad actors that the platform needs to verify to influence the election,” Traynham said. “We’ve invested heaps of millions of dollars and thousands of workers to fight the wrong information in the race – until the 2020 election. “
He said Facebook aimed to suppress and intimidate voters. The site removes more than 90% of the wrong data before being published via algorithms in its software, Traynham said. In an effort to manage the wrong data, the company doesn’t have to settle for new policies. classified ads of October 27, a week before Election Day.
“If you say you can’t vote if you have COVID-19 . . . our fact-checkers will eliminate it,” he says.
gabrielle. banks@chron. com
Gabrielle Banks is covering the Federal Court for the Houston Chronicle. She was a criminal justice and legal affairs reporter for nearly two decades, and added staff for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Los Angeles Times, and independent paintings for the New York Times, The Mercury News, Newsday and The Miami Herald. He holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. Before her years as a journalist, she painted as a teacher, social painter and organizer.