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Election commissioner requests pay bump for poll workers as vendor flags major voter-roll cost increase
Summary
Sedgwick County Election Commissioner Laura Rainwater asked commissioners to approve an $86,500 decision package to raise poll-worker pay to improve recruitment, and warned the county's Elvis voter-registration database vendor may raise annual fees from about $65,000 to three to four times that amount next year.
Election Commissioner Laura Rainwater told the Sedgwick County Board of Commissioners that her office received a certificate of occupancy and will be fully operational at a new office, then outlined staffing and budget risks ahead of two high-turnout elections.
Rainwater said her office is fully staffed at leadership levels and certified for election administration, but she flagged two budgetary concerns: a potential large increase in annual vendor fees for the county's Elvis voter-registration software and low pay for temporary poll workers. "We currently pay $65,000 a year for that software," she said, and "we are told that it could be three to four times that beginning next year," noting that any new figure would not include potential upfront costs from the vendor.
On staffing pay, Rainwater described recruitment challenges tied to the current temporary pay scale and asked the commission to approve roughly $86,500 to raise election-worker pay from about $8.50 per hour to $10 per hour and supervising judges from $11 per hour to $12.50. Rainwater argued higher pay would help recruit younger workers, improve training retention and speed setup on election day: "It's embarrassing" to recruit at the current rate, she said, and younger workers "are much more quick" with iPads and machines.
Rainwater also announced the county will open a downtown early-voting site for two weeks and add a westside location at the extension office, increasing the number of early-voting sites to three for the upcoming primary and general elections.
Communications staff (Nicole) told the board the mutual-aid materials and the fact sheet on fire-auto-aid will be posted to the county's website and social channels once leadership signs off, and that those documents will be distributed to elected officials and city managers in affected municipalities.
What happens next: Commissioners asked staff questions about the vendor risk and poll-worker pay and indicated they would consider Rainwater's decision package as part of the recommended budget; staff will bring back details on vendor-contract options, and testing of equipment is scheduled to begin the following week.
