Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Election Judge Pay topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Cole County debates raising election judge pay; motion proposed but no final recorded outcome
Summary
At its July 14 meeting, the Cole County Commission debated proposals to raise election judge pay, including tying compensation to minimum wage and limiting mileage reimbursements to trips over 10 miles; staff said poll workers haven’t had a raise since 2019 and estimated a minimum-wage approach could add roughly $31,600 per election.
Cole County commissioners spent a lengthy portion of their July 14 meeting discussing how to pay poll workers and whether to eliminate small mileage reimbursements.
Elections staff reported that poll workers “hadn’t had a raise since 2019,” and presented options including tying pay to the state minimum wage or adopting a flat per-day rate. The staff estimate for a minimum-wage approach was roughly $31,600 per election, according to the presentation.
Commissioner (functional label) discussion focused on two main trade-offs: fairness to poll workers who may travel long distances and the county’s bookkeeping burden from issuing many small mileage checks. One commissioner summarized the staff proposal as: “I would propose is we we meet the minimum wage requirement for workers,” and recommended reimbursing mileage only when a worker drives more than 10 miles.
Supporters argued that increasing pay would be a fairer way to compensate long-day service and would keep compensation in step if minimum wage rises. Opponents raised concerns about the county budget and whether a flat daily fee might be simpler to administer.
The motion recorded in the transcript proposed two parts: (1) pay poll workers at the applicable minimum wage for a standard election-day period (the staff discussion used a 14–15 hour day for calculations), and (2) reimburse mileage only for trips exceeding 10 miles at the county rate (cited in the meeting as 70¢ per mile). The motion was moved and debated on the record; the transcript does not include a clear roll-call tally or a final, unambiguous outcome for that motion, and commissioners continued to discuss budget implications and implementation details.
Next steps: Commissioners left the matter with staff to refine cost estimates and administrative options; no binding pay change was recorded in the meeting minutes provided by the transcript.
