The traditional poll worker demographic is more "legacy" than "old," says Quin Monson.

Either way it needs to change, says Monson, the assistant director of BYU's Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy.

A new study by the center, published in the journal American Politics Research, shows that voters have more confidence in the voting process when poll workers' ages are diverse.

"I think that they are reassured in the presence of the new blood. In particular because of all the changing technology," Monson said.

Veterans

Poll workers tend to be an older crowd for various reasons. Mostly, it's difficult getting time off work or school or paying for a babysitter for a full day, said Utah County clerk/auditor Bryan Thompson.

Election officials try to put available election judges where they feel the most comfortable, and get them some more training. With the old punch ballots, poll judges would get a short training session, 80 people at a time. With the new touch-screen voting machines, the class size is down to 20 at a time and classes are three hours long.

But training doesn't always make up for natural affinity.

"Someone who has been raised with computers their whole life has a better sense of how to troubleshoot," said Monson, referring to the younger crowd found in universities and businesses. That being said, veteran poll workers know how to better work with "difficult" voters, in turn providing confidence to younger poll workers.

Solutions

But how to get them to work a polling place for a whole day?

In the case of Salt Lake County, officials there offer a lot of free publicity to businesses who let their employees work the polls, and they give some hints on getting employees to help out through their Partners in Democracy Program. The county's Web site touts benefits for participants, including:

• Media attention -- formal recognition in news releases sent to local media outlets.

• Internet publicity -- company logo posted on the Salt Lake County Elections Division's Web page ("the most visited Web page in county government.")

• Official commendation -- The Salt Lake County mayor and clerk will formally recognize each Partner in Democracy participant with a certificate.

Utah County doesn't run such a program, Thompson said, but is always looking for help.

And so?

What kind of results could counties get with a younger poll worker population? What does one gain with higher voter confidence?

"The step that nobody has really established is what happens when voter confidence gets too low," Monson said. "It's extremely difficult to establish that causal link."

Though he doesn't have the data to prove it, he said voting can be like going shopping or eating out.

While the result may turn out well, a bad experience could keep a customer from coming back.

"The problem may be that they don't go at all," he said.