NJ Hikes Pay For Election Workers To Cope With Staffing Woes

NEW JERSEY — It’s getting harder to keep polling places staffed on election days in New Jersey. But hopefully, a $100 per day pay bump for poll workers can help keep things running smoothly in the future, supporters of a new law say.

Last week, Gov. Phil Murphy signed A-208, which increases the compensation of election workers from $200 to $300 per day. The bipartisan bill also appropriates $7 million to the Department of State to power the effort.

According to the governor’s office, election workers are currently paid $200 per day for primary elections, general elections or special elections. The state reimburses $125 of the payment to election workers, while the counties account for the rest.

Under the new law, the state’s reimbursement increases to $225 while keeping counties’ sum at $75.

The new law also increases the maximum hourly rate for election workers serving at a school election held at a time other than the general election, from $14.29 to $21.43 per hour, which is commensurate with the $300 daily rate for election workers.

The state Office of Legislative Services gave the following analysis about the fiscal impact of the new law:

“The OLS estimates that increasing the state’s reimbursement of the payment to election workers by $100 per day will increase costs to the Division of Elections in the Department of State by approximately $7.04 million per election depending on the number of hours the poll workers actually work on Election Day and the type of election (ie: primary, general or special election). This increase will bring the costs for early voting and election day poll workers from approximately $18.24 million to $25.28 million per election.”

“Election workers play a critical role in ensuring that New Jerseyans may exercise their right to vote,” said Murphy, a Democrat. “I am proud to sign legislation that will repay them for their commitment to ensuring that our elections process remains a model for the nation.”

Assemblyman Kevin Rooney, one of the primary sponsors of the new law, said election worker pay has remained stagnant since 2001, when it was raised to $200 per day up from a $75 daily rate.

“These election workers sometimes work upwards of 14-hour days and should be paid a fair wage to entice them to step up to this civic duty,” said Rooney, a Republican.

Other support for the bill came from:

Secretary of State Tahesha Way – “Compensating election workers fairly is a crucial step toward modernizing our elections. Election workers play an integral role in protecting the integrity of elections and upholding our democracy.”

Assemblymembers Robert Karabinchak and Raj Mukherji – “Over the past few years, we have seen the important role our election workers have and how stressful the job can be. These workers have been in short supply and we must offer increased pay to assist in filling those roles. We want to ensure that workers are receiving the proper pay for the rigorous work they do. This measure will allow us to hire more poll workers and keep our elections more efficient with no added cost to our counties.”

Sen. James Beach - “Our goal is to make voting as accessible as possible and continue to encourage citizens to take a more active role in the voting process. This law will do just that. By providing poll workers with fair compensation, we will ease the burden on counties who have found it increasingly difficult to staff polling places.”

Sen. Shirley Turner - “It has become increasingly difficult to staff voting locations. While these individuals play an important part in the democratic process, they often face long hours and low wages. This pay raise will make it easier for counties to hire the personnel they need to ensure residents a quick and easy voting experience.”

Send news tips and correction requests to eric.kiefer@patch.com

Sign up for Patch email newsletters. Learn more about posting announcements or events to your local Patch site.