May 7 primary notebook: Pay for Monroe County Election Day poll workers could get bump

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.