Facebook tries to recruit more poll workers for November election

You might have noticed a new banner at the top of your Facebook news feed asking you, by name, to be a poll worker.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg posted about the social network's poll worker recruitment drive on Friday. The effort kicked off on news feeds across the U.S. after the post went live. Anyone over the age of 18 and in the U.S. should see a blue button to "Become a Poll Official."

With the presidential election coming up during a pandemic, thousands of poll worker jobs are still unfulfilled, as ABC News reported on Tuesday. This could affect states' plans for in-person voting. If you click on the Facebook notice, it connects to your state's poll worker information site and an application to sign up.

Zuckerberg said the news feed message is just one way to encourage people to work the polls. Every state has free ad credits on Facebook to recruit workers. California has ads running and other states are joining. These are not considered political ads, which the social network will stop accepting a week before Election Day.

In a similar move to Old Navy, Target, and other companies, Facebook said all its U.S. employees can take paid time off to volunteer or work the polls.

Zuckerberg said Facebook is also trying to get 4 million people registered to vote (and then vote on Nov. 3). There's a whole dedicated "Voting Information Center" on everyone's Facebook page for more about the upcoming election.