August 11 marked National Poll Worker Recruitment Day across the country. But in Philadelphia, the day was about more than signups — it was about celebration. Kalia Baker, who joined the Philadelphia City Commission as Communications Director in May, spoke to us about how she is taking appreciation of the city’s over 8,000 poll workers, who serve the county’s nearly 1.1 million registered voters, to the next level.

Kalia, who are Philly’s poll workers?

Our poll worker community is strong, it is wise, it is excited, and it is dedicated. They are literally the backbone of how and why we can vote in Philadelphia. They have full-time jobs and families, they are caretakers and teachers and parents coming from Center City, from South and West and North Philly, from every corner of our community. They’re also students — nearly 750 worked in May’s primary. Some drive, but many rely on SEPTA [Philadelphia’s public transit system]. All of them go through training twice a year and put boots on the ground about twice a year for our elections. And since we don’t have early in-person voting, just m

ail-in voting and Election Day, those two days are even more crucial. 

Many of our poll workers have multigenerational stories of voting and civic engagement. It’s not uncommon to meet someone who’s been doing it for decades, and it turns out their mom is a poll worker and their daughter is, too. And this is such a loyal group of people — many of them are friends, and they come out in groups and lean on each other like a family. 

This also means we have a high retention rate. Between last November’s general election and May’s primary, over 6,500 people returned to do it again, and we added 254 new workers through last year’s recruitments alone. We don’t tend to lose them. 

You used to work as an on-camera reporter and news anchor. How does this carry over into your work on elections? 

It’s such a full circle moment to be on the other side of these events I’ve reported on for so many years. But working in elections is still about breaking news every day — filtering and telling people what they need to know, going out in the community and engaging people face to face. The only difference is that now I don’t have a camera on me all the time. 

August 11 was the biggest celebration ever organized in honor of Philadelphia’s poll workers. How did it come to be? 

Before I joined the office this spring, there wasn’t the staff capacity to throw some of these larger tentpole-style events. Last year our thank-you to poll workers was serving pizza at each of our 10 satellite offices. For my first summer at the office, I wanted to go bigger, make it a whole festival, and get the entire city excited about the story of our poll workers who, every year, twice a year, get up at the crack of dawn to make sure their neighborhoods exercise the right to vote. That’s another thing that carries over from news: no matter what role I’m in, I’m storytelling. Honoring our poll workers at City Hall with music and testimonials, with a program full of Philly themes and a menu full of Philly classics, on the summer of our country’s 250th anniversary in the city that is the birthplace of our democracy — it just felt right.

Plus, I love a party with a purpose. Philly is very much a city of neighborhoods, we love a block party, and our motto for our office is “every block, every vote.” Our official tagline for the summer is based off the Philly saying “going down the shore,” which mostly means going down to the beach, usually in New Jersey. We adapted it into “Democracy doesn’t go down the shore,” which translates to “your voting rights matter year-round” — and so does our democracy. People love it.

Rather than use all the satellite offices, we planned one big party in the City Hall courtyard. We kicked it off with a drum line and our local icon, Philly Elmo. We heard from our Secretary of State Al Schmidt and our three city commissioners, Omar Sabir, Seth Bluestein, and Lisa Deeley, who began working Philly elections as a teenager. We had about 2,000 people there in person, and more on livestream.

Tell us about the poll workers you honored at the celebration.

We had four with a combined 145 years of service, two of them with over 50 years of service each. We also heard remarks from the executive director of Philly Youth Vote and from a student in the Student Poll Worker program, which encourages 17-year-olds who will turn 18 before Election Day to become poll workers. We also ordered a brand-new step-and-repeat photo backdrop and built a little content corner where poll workers could do interviews and pose for photos. We wanted our poll workers to feel like celebrities that day. 

We also heard wonderful stories. Someone told me they were signing up because their mom was a poll worker. Another told me they lost a close relative right before the event and came to make sure and honor them. For a lot of these poll workers it’s generational, it’s public service, something they feel called to do. That’s why we don’t lose them; we add to the roster. 92 people signed up to be poll workers during that two-hour event. 

Tell us about the themes and the swag your team came up with.

We pitched it as both appreciating our poll workers and drafting our new class of Rookie All Stars — we had baseball-style cards featuring our commissioners with key election dates printed on them, and cutouts where people could take photos and tag themselves as

 current or future poll workers. We also did voting machine demonstrations and trivia to introduce people to the civic process. 

In Philly, we get teased for saying “wooder” for “water,” so we had water bottles that said “Wooder you waiting for?” and a Liberty Bell-themed QR code that led to the Commissioners’ website. We had handheld fans that said “the coolest thing you can do is vote.” We had stickers of our mascots, Billy the Box and Betsy R. Ballot, and our T-shirts adapted the iconic Philly Love Statue to say VOTE instead. 

You mentioned Philly classics on the menu?

Philly pizza is its own celebrity — we had 50 of them, along with 300 Philly pretzels and 1500 servings of our classic water ice. Or “wooder” ice if you want to tease us. The flavors were strawberry lemonade, lemon mint mojito, and our local favorite, mango. No cheesesteaks, though. It’s hard to feed 2,000 people with cheesesteaks. 

What’s the plan for next year?

We’ll definitely be throwing this party again next August 11 as our big annual summer event — not just to recruit new poll workers, but to let the existing ones know they’re honored and their work matters. It really is our way to say thank you. I would also love to do a more formal reception for our poll workers where they can get dressed up, walk a red carpet so we can see all these uncles and aunties in their Sunday best, and get them some sort of certification of appreciation. 

What can jurisdictions with smaller staffs (and budgets) do to appreciate their poll workers? 

I would just say, whatever resources you have, don’t underestimate the power of a small thank you. Whatever you can do, on whatever scale you have available, do it. Invite people to the office for lunch. For those who can’t make it in, throw a party on Zoom. Sometimes we can overthink the simple things, sometimes a thank you is all somebody needs. And if we have the capacity to make that thank you a little bit bigger, why not? Whatever you can do, I promise it will make a difference.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Poll Worker Recruitment, Poll Worker Retention, Plain Language, Voter Communications, and Community Relationships are among the Standards for Election Excellence co-developed by nearly 300 election officials with the U.S. Alliance for Election Excellence. Learn more about the Standards available for certification and apply for certification today — certification is now open to election departments across the country.