Council discusses 16- and 17-year-old poll workers; asks legal review on rules

Greenbelt Mayor Emmett Jordan and the city’s Board of Elections discussed allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to serve as poll workers and asked city legal counsel to review how the city would implement the change.
The Board of Elections urged the council to move forward with the practice; Board Chair Steve Gilbert said the board supports the idea and suggested council staff and legal counsel check code and charter implications. "The 16 and 17 year old poll worker question, we're not sure that that needs to be on the ballot since it's a fairly simple question. The board is in favor of that," Gilbert said.
Why it matters: allowing teens to work polls could expand the election workforce and create volunteer or service-learning opportunities for high-school students, but it raises practical and legal questions about supervision, work hours, parental consent and background checks.
Council members and staff pressed for specifics on who can work early voting shifts, whether minors may receive payment or service learning credit and what checks are required. Council Member Danielle McKinney said students should be able to choose between community-service credit and payment if both are offered. "I think offering them the choice makes sense," McKinney said.
City staff told council that under current charter and code poll workers traditionally serve on Election Day and that the clerk’s office and administration cover weekend early voting. A city staff member who spoke about employment checks said, "we could fingerprint our minors," and that minors would be treated like other minor employees and kept under supervision.
Council discussion also covered parental permission, limits on minors’ work hours and whether residency or citizenship requirements apply to poll workers. Gilbert noted Prince George's County requires 16- and 17-year-old poll workers to meet county qualifications and parental permission; council members asked whether Greenbelt would impose additional requirements if it adopted a similar practice.
Outcome and next steps: Mayor Emmett Jordan asked that legal counsel review the proposal and report back to council. The council did not adopt an ordinance or change code during the meeting; instead it directed staff and legal counsel to prepare recommended language and procedures for future consideration.
What stayed unresolved: whether the city would allow both payment and service learning credit, how background checks would be handled for minors, and whether any charter or code edits would be necessary. The Board of Elections did not make a final, formal recommendation in the meeting; it provided a draft and background for council action.
Ending: Council members said they were broadly supportive of pursuing a workable implementation and asked staff to return with legal guidance and proposed procedures before any formal vote.