
Recruiting poll workers has never been more important
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130,000
poll workers who have stopped serving over the past three midterm elections
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66%
election officials who found it difficult to obtain a sufficient number of poll workers in 2018
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60%
poll workers who are over 61, with 25% who are >70



Our Approach
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Raise awareness of the challenge
Working with our growing coalition of marquee VSO/MSO coalition partners and through a multimedia awareness and recruitment campaign, Vet the Vote is getting the word out to the veteran and military family community.
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Make it easy to sign up and serve
Working with Power the Polls, we will make it seamless for veterans and military families to sign up to staff their local polling location and receive all of the information they need to serve.
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Galvanize a community for continued service
We empower volunteers to share their stories through our media channels and show their pride in service. The coalition will continue to engage and inspire this community to become the next generation of poll workers.
Our Leadership
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Ellen Gustafson, Co-Executive Director, Board Member
Navy spouseEllen is the Co-Founder of the Military Family Building Coalition, co-founder of FEED, Food Tank and Co-Directed the Summit Institute.
full bio
Ellen is a proud Navy Spouse and Navy and Coast Guard Granddaughter. She is the Co-Founder of the Military Family Building Coalition, as well as previously co-founding FEED, Food Tank and Co-Directing the Summit Institute. Ellen is the author of "We the Eaters: If We Change Dinner, We Can Change the World," has been a Fortune Most Powerful Women Entrepreneur and given four TEDxTalks.
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Anil Nathan, Co-Executive Director, Board Member
USAF veteranAnil is an experienced product, operations, and tech leader helping companies build, launch, and scale new businesses.
full bio
Anil is a first-generation American and second-generation Air Force veteran, following his father who was drafted during the Vietnam War after emigrating from India. Anil works in the Management Consulting industry and was previously the General Manager for Aviation at Uber.
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Christa Sperling, Co-Founder and Board Member
USAF veteranChrista is a Corporate Communications Vice President for a major financial services institution.
full bio
Christa is an Air Force veteran, where she gained first-hand experience in the information operations space. Following her service, Christa spent several years as a consultant for multiple government agencies while completing her MBA in Finance from Johns Hopkins University. Soon after, she joined a public affairs firm in New York City. Today, Christa is a Corporate Communications Vice President for a major financial services institution.
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Ben Keiser, Co-Founder and Board Member
USMC veteranBen currently serves as the Chief Risk Officer of Elutions and is a founder and Chairman of the AVA Foundation.
full bio
Ben joined the Marine Corps while in college, serving in the reserves into law school, and deploying to theater for OIF. After graduating, Ben practiced at a large law firm in Washington, D.C. and New York. He currently serves as the Chief Risk Officer of Elutions, a multinational AI company, and is a founder and Chairman of the AVA Foundation.
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Joe Plenzler, Board Member of We the Veterans Society for American Democracy
USMC veteranJoe is a co-founder of Cassandra Helenus Partners - a leadership coaching and human communication firm.
full bio
Joe is a 20 year, combat decorated Marine Corps veteran, where he planned and executed the largest media embed program in USMC history during the invasion of Iraq, served as the senior U.S. military spokesperson in Indonesia in the wake of the tsunami and in the Pentagon as the spokesman, press secretary, and staff group director for the 34th, 35th, and 36th Commandants of the Marine Corps. Today, he is a co-founder of Cassandra Helenus Partners - a leadership coaching and human communication firm.
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William Braniff, Co-Founder and Board Member
Army veteranBill is Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) and a Professor of the Practice at the University of Maryland.
full bio
Bill is an Army veteran and Director of the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) and a Professor of the Practice at the University of Maryland. He previously served as the director of practitioner education at West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center and an instructor in the Department of Social Sciences, as a foreign affairs specialist within the National Nuclear Security Administration, and as an Armor Officer in the United States Army. Bill is a graduate of the United States Military Academy and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Study.
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Ingrid Sundlee, Director of Civic Engagement
Army daughterIngrid has experience with the federal government, including extensive work on humanitarian disaster relief in Iraq, Nigeria, and the Caribbean.
full bio
Ingrid is the daughter of an Army veteran. She has nearly 15 years of communications and project management experience with the federal government, including extensive work on humanitarian disaster relief in Iraq, Nigeria, and the Caribbean. She has an MA in International Relations from the University of Nottingham.
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Jermaine Clark, Board Member
Army veteranJermaine creates content that commands your attention and causes self-reflection with emotional messaging.
full bio
Jermaineis an Army veteran. He just wants to create content that commands your attention and causes self-reflection with emotional messaging. He spends most of his time daydreaming about the subconscious psychology of an image’s composition and how to wield that power to his own, aforementioned, ends. Unfortunately, he hasn’t mastered this universal language but, in its pursuit, this scrappy military-brat has traveled to more than 70 countries, dove more than 300 dives, had 7 near death experiences, swam with sharks, deployed to Iraq, started a boutique marketing agency and an IT Joint-Venture, and convinced a perfectly healthy and sane woman to co-create a son named Odysseus.