Some election workers who have staffed Monroe County’s polling sites in the past say they won’t work this year unless the pay is increased.
That’s the message that county election supervisor Kyle Moreland passed along to the three-member county election board at its regular meeting on Thursday.
Primary Election Day falls on May 7.
Here’s how Moreland put it: “We have some members that have worked in the past that have decided that if there is not a change on the pay, they will not be working this election.”
Election workers have to arrive at the polls at 5 a.m. to open the polls at 6 a.m. Polls don’t close until 6 p.m. That makes for a day that lasts 14 to 15 hours.
The current per diem pay for different jobs breaks down like this: $165 for inspectors; $135 for judges; $135 for clerks; and $115 for sheriffs.
Monroe County’s election board consists of Nicole Browne (elected county clerk), John Fernandez (Democratic Party appointee) and Judith Benckart (Republican Party appointee).
The board has a hand in setting Election Day poll worker pay, but only within the constraints laid out by county commissioners in Chapter 287 of Monroe County code. It’s the commissioners who set the compensation of Election Day poll workers under state law.
For absentee election workers, it’s the county council that sets their pay. At its most recent meeting, the Monroe County council increased pay for the election workers who handle the various kinds of absentee voting—those who process mail-in absentee ballots, the “leads” who help train poll workers, and the workers who handle early in-person voting.
The pay for election workers on Election Day is near the top of the “not to exceed” amount currently specified in Chapter 287. But there’s still a little room to go higher. It does not sound like the incremental amount of pay that the election board could provide within the existing scale would be enough to retain some poll workers.
Moreland told the board at its Thursday meeting that she is asking election workers to reach out to county commissioners to voice their concerns about pay.
Molly Turner-King, the county attorney who supports the election board, said at Thursday’s meeting that she had a resolution prepared on Election Day poll worker pay. Turner-King said the board could go ahead and adopt the resolution and then amend it, depending on potential action by county commissioners.
At Thursday’s meeting, the election board decided to put off consideration of their resolution setting Election Day worker pay.
Turner-King told The B Square after the board’s Thursday meeting, that she hopes to talk to county commissioners about possible changes to Chapter 287 at their regular meeting on April 10.
Here’s how the relevant part of Chapter 287 currently reads:
287-1. Per Diem, Additional Compensation, and Meal Allowance Payments to Election Workers
(A) For all elections except municipal elections held by towns under IC 3-10-7, subject to IC 3-6-6-28:
(1) Each Inspector, Judge, Poll Clerk, Assistant Poll Clerk, and Election Sheriff is entitled to a per diem payment in the following amounts, for the performance, on election day, of all the duties of office imposed on the person by IC Title:
Inspectors Not to exceed $175.00*;
Judges and Clerks Not to exceed $145.00*;
Sheriffs Not to exceed $125.00*.
…
* specific amount within range to be determined by Monroe County Election Board.
Here’s how the different poll worker jobs are described in Indiana’s 2024 Election Administrator’s Manual.
| PRECINCT OFFICER | DUTIES |
| INSPECTOR | Overall, in charge of the precinct. Receives election materials from the county election board. Sets up the polling place. Inspects the ballots. Performs initial processing of absentee ballot certifications. Tabulates ballots and returns election materials to the county election board. Requests Photo Identification from voters. |
| JUDGES | Judge of opposite political party to the inspector acts as check and balance to the inspector. Assists inspection of the ballots. Oversees deposit of ballots into the ballot boxes. Assists in the tabulation of the votes. Judge of opposite party accompanies precinct inspector when returning election materials. Requests Photo Identification from voters. |
| POLL CLERKS POLL CLERKS |
Verifies the registration status of voters. Oversees poll lists or books. Requests and explains voter identification number to voters. Assists in vote tabulation. Compares voter’s signature on poll list with registration signature, if available at polls. Requests Photo Identification from voters. |
| SHERIFFS | Monitors the polling location. Assists others in their duties. Maintains order at the polls. Upon direction from a precinct election officer, request assistance from a law enforcement officer if a violation of law or a breach of the peace within the polls or the chute has occurred or appears imminent. May leave polls to request assistance from a law enforcement officer if violation of law occurs or appears imminent. Requests Photo Identification from voters. |
One more thing the Commissioners are dragging their feet on. This should have been decided months ago. Early voting starts in 3 days. Election day is a month away.
Sue, The article says that the clerk is not paying as much as she is allowed to pay and she has not requested the pay increase to pay the workers more yet . So, how are the commissioners dragging their feet? If the clerk cared about her employees, she should have asked a long time ago, not waited until the last minute.
The article says the commissioners set the payment constraints
From the article:
It’s the commissioners who set the compensation of Election Day poll workers under state law.
Based on my experience as a clerk, I was afraid that something like those would happen. Workers do get an additional per diem amount for food, but it is still a comically small amount for a very long day. I was hoping vote centers would allow for more pay for fewer people, but apparently some still have their heads in the sand: https://bsquarebulletin.com/2024/02/04/committee-now-mulls-vote-centers-at-every-current-monroe-county-polling-location-without-merging/
Let’s say you wanted to pay an ugly wage of $15/hr. This is one of the most expensive places to live in the entire state. Nearly all workers have to pay to get to the poll by 5a.m. Fuel is $3.75/gal.
Everyone’s required to take the four hours training. That’s $60 so far.
Then there’s that fourteen hour election day– if all goes well. That’s $210. Total so far? $270. Remember, there’s no overtime for working above an 8hr day. Breaks? As you can.
Add in the $25 meal reimbursement because you’re obliged not to leave the poll during the election day. The meal delivery debacle cost the county a lot– we eat a diverse amount of food these days, and catering to this diversity can be expensive.
Now we’re at $295, for any member of the poll.
Get real. Uber and McDonald’s pays more.
Sue , it says that the commissioner’s set the pay for election day workers and that the workers pay us not at the top of what they have set. So it appears the clerk is not paying them as much as she is allowed. Furthermore, it says that the election board did not vote on a raise, when they do, the request will be taken to the commissioners. So the commissioners aren’t dragging their feet, it looks more like the election board is.
“At Thursday’s meeting, the election board decided to put off consideration of their resolution setting Election Day worker pay.
Turner-King told The B Square after the board’s Thursday meeting, that she hopes to talk to county commissioners about possible changes to Chapter 287 at their regular meeting on April 10”
What you wrote. The attorney is talking to the Commissioners. Hence they are the ones who need to change
The clerk could be paying more now but is not. You keep repeating that the commissioner need to change but the request has to come them in order to change.
“The pay for election workers on Election Day is near the top of the “not to exceed” amount currently specified in Chapter 287. But there’s still a little room to go higher. ”
Another thing to keep in mind is that the workers were used to getting paid a per diem, a flat rate per day. So if you got paid (for example) $100 a day but were only working a 4 hour shift, you are going to have to work more hours to make the same pay.