A Young Newarker Will Work the Polls on Election Day — and Wants Her Neighbors to See a Familiar Face
Aaronae Emerson, a Rutgers University–Newark junior raised in Newark's South and North wards, signed up as a poll worker after organizing for youth voting. She will be on duty Tuesday as Essex County voters cast their ballots.
When Newark voters walk into their polling places on Tuesday, some will be checked in by a neighbor. Aaronae Emerson, a junior at Rutgers University–Newark who was born and raised in Newark's South Ward and later lived in the North Ward, became a poll worker in 2025 and will work the polls on Election Day, Nov. 3, according to a Public Square profile of Emerson read in full by this desk.
Emerson came to the job through organizing: she has worked with the Gem Project and the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, and it was during an organizing workshop for the Vote16 Project that she decided to sign up, according to the profile. “It's good to see a familiar face when you're going to vote. If you decide to become a poll worker, you're doing your civic duty and showing that you value your community,” Emerson said in the profile. In New Jersey, citizens aged 16 or older can apply to serve as poll workers, the profile noted.
Poll workers check voters in, answer questions and help make sure every voter can cast a ballot, and voters who feel intimidated at a polling place can report it to poll workers, county and state officials, the Election Protection Hotline at (866)-OUR-VOTE or the U.S. Department of Justice Voting Rights Hotline, according to the profile. New Jersey's John R. Lewis Voter Empowerment Act, signed into law on July 2, 2026, adds protections against discriminatory voting practices and expands language assistance for voters with limited English proficiency, the profile said. Polls in New Jersey are open Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.
