FORSYTH COUNTY, GA — Forsyth County is seeking more than 600 poll workers ahead of the upcoming elections.

Director of Voter Registrations and Elections Mandi Smith says while the number may sound high, it is necessary to staff polling locations across the county.

“We have over 182,000 registered voters; we will end up with 30 polling places on election day to be staffed and 4 advanced voting locations to be staffed,” Smith said.

Smith said finding enough workers has been challenging in recent years.

“I’ll be honest it has been a challenge since 2020 honestly, so we’ve continued to sort of overcome that challenge of having enough poll workers,” she said.

The first election day is May 19. Smith said that date presents an additional hurdle because it coincides with graduation season.

“In our case a little extra wrinkle is that week, that’s when a lot of graduations are happening,” she said.

The county is looking for workers to welcome voters, verify photo IDs and check in voters. Candidates must be a U.S. citizen and at least 16 years old.

Anyone interested in serving as a poll worker can find more information on the Forsyth County government website.

WSB Radio’s Sabrina Cupit contributed to this story.