Harrisonburg City Electoral Board meeting — Director of Elections Mark Vink told the board Oct. 6 that at least eight students had signed up for an Election Day page program and that the office planned a short training for their limited duties.
Vink said the signups included at least one student from Rockingham County and that students do not all need to attend Harrisonburg City Schools so long as parents consent. "As of not at the deadline. There might be more than this, but before the deadline, he told me they'd had at least 8 students that had signed up," Vink said, recounting his communication with Mr. Kirk at Harrisonburg City Schools.
The office outlined permitted and prohibited page activities. Pages can guide the line for same-day registration, help direct voters to the correct queue, post signage, count blank ballots, assist voters to the booth or to curbside waiting areas, and perform non-sensitive logistical tasks. They cannot "touch a voted ballot," "touch the poll pads or the voting machines," be inside the voting booth, or complete assistance forms, Vink said.
Planned assignment locations are James Madison University, Stone Spring and Smithland precincts, where same-day registration is most active. The office intends a brief page training (about 30–40 minutes) and said chiefs receiving pages will be asked for feedback through a short questionnaire to improve future deployment.
Elections staff described the program as a pilot and said they would evaluate what worked well and what did not after the election.