Board approves election budget; staff seeks poll-worker pay bump, outreach specialist and legal retainer

The Harnett County Board of Elections approved its budget request for the coming fiscal cycle and discussed several staffing and operational proposals intended to address recent staffing shortfalls and anticipated election workloads.

Elections staff reviewed anticipated election events for the year — including municipal and county elections and potential runoffs — and described two budget categories: contingency funds (held by the county for unplanned expenditures such as recounts or second primaries) and continuation funds. Staff said they had increased postage and advertising lines to cover precinct changes, and flagged the substantial cost of early‑voting sites (about $40,000 per site for the full early‑voting period) versus a typical election‑day polling site (roughly $3,500–$4,000).

To address poll‑worker recruitment and retention, staff proposed a $15 increase in per‑worker pay over current rates and suggested a one‑time $50 bonus for staff who work the full election day. Board members discussed allowing part‑time (half‑shift) workers for some positions to ease long‑day staffing burdens, noting that judges must serve full days for accountability reasons. The board discussed practical limits: half shifts would require more recruits and more administrative coordination; staff said they could allow part‑time assistants if recruitment sufficed.

Board members also discussed adding an election outreach specialist position to support expanded weekday, evening and weekend outreach tied to the precinct changes and outreach events. Staff asked for board approval to request the position from county administration and commissioners.

Separately, staff recommended budgeting for outside legal counsel on a retainer or as‑needed basis following a recent conflict of interest that limited use of the county attorney on an issue. Staff noted one county’s experience using a retainer and cited a prior legal engagement of about $5,000 as a budgeting example.

After discussion, the board voted to approve the budget request pending any minor edits; members recorded affirmative votes. Board members directed staff to proceed with outreach planning, to include small appreciation tokens for poll workers (staff said the office will continue distributing pins to workers), and to pursue the personnel and legal funding requests with the county administration.