Elections office cites larger ballot, two major elections and seeks poll‑worker pay increases

Hamilton County’s elections office asked the budget committee for a sizable cyclical increase to cover two major elections this year, expanded ballot sizes and higher poll‑worker pay.

The presenter said the proposed budget is about 32% higher than last year’s and roughly 40% higher than the maintenance‑of‑effort comparison four years ago, driven by two scheduled elections (the county primary in August and the state general election in November) and an unusually large number of independent candidates that expanded ballot length. The office said May’s county primary was funded by the state and will return about $400,000 to the county for that election.

To retain and recruit poll workers, the office proposed increasing pay for officers of election from $165 to $225, noting other counties pay more; the presenter said this pupil‑worker increase represents roughly 6.5% of the overall requested increase. “We’ve increased pay for our poll workers in 2007 and 2017, and this is FY27. So, it makes sense that it’s time for us to kind of make that look into that and and and invest in our poll workers,” the presenter said.

The presenter described staffing reorganizations to meet upcoming state requirements for voter registration checks, centralized purchasing for accountability and a mobile app to reduce training costs for poll workers. Commissioners asked how much of the requested increase is attributable to the pay change; the office said poll‑worker pay is one component but the overall cyclical increases reflect ballot printing, audits, equipment delivery, postage and other election operational costs.

The presenter noted that a pay change for poll workers would require a resolution from this body if approved. No formal county action was recorded during the presentation; the request will be considered in the budget process.