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WARREN -- The Trumbull County Board of Elections is going to be about five short of the Ohio secretary of state's targeted goal of each county having at least 115 percent of the poll workers needed for Tuesday's election.
The board has 114.2 percent of the poll workers needed for the election, which is more than enough, said Stephanie Penrose, its director.
The 722 poll workers trained and ready for Tuesday's election is considerably more than the 632 -- four for each of the county's 158 precincts -- needed, Penrose said.
Frank LaRose, secretary of state, wants each county to have at least 115 percent of the minimum number of poll workers. That number is 727 for Trumbull County.
A statement from LaRose's office said: "In order to ensure an adequate number of poll workers are trained and available in case of unforeseen challenges, (LaRose) has set a goal of 115 percent of the minimum number of poll workers necessary to execute a successful election on Nov. 8."
It added that the 115 percent goal "is the target number of poll workers counties should recruit and train in order to compensate for any cancellations or no-shows."
Of the state's 88 counties, 62 have met the 115 percent goal with most of the remaining ones less than 20 short of the target, according to LaRose's office.
There are four counties that haven't met their minimum, but "the margins are negligible and there are no concerns about all polling locations being fully staffed," according to LaRose's office. Those four counties are Carroll, Fayette, Lawrence and Williams.
The poll worker tracker lists Mahoning County as having 836 poll workers, which is 122 percent of the 688 workers it needs for the election. It needed 791 poll workers to reach the 115 percent goal.
Rob Nichols, LaRose's spokesman, said there is no state law requiring 115 percent, but it's a good target. Also, those counties, such as Trumbull, that are close to the percentage goal "will be fine," he said.
The secretary of state's most recent poll worker tracker listed 717 poll workers for Trumbull County. But Penrose said Thursday those figures were as of Oct. 28 and Trumbull has added five more since then.
Penrose doesn't expect to add five more poll workers to get to the 115 percent number, but it hasn't reached that amount before.
"It's not going to impact the election because we'll have several people who went to (poll worker training) class who won't be called to work on Election Day," she said. "We're not worried at all. It's kind of good they put that pressure to add that many people. We've always had reserves, but not as many as we do now."
There are poll workers who cancel the day of the election, but it's usually only a handful, Penrose said.
"People get family emergencies and medical emergencies, but poll workers are loyal," she said.