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Elections administrator warns of state changes, pushes pay increases for election workers
Summary
Elections administrator Cricket told commissioners that recent state and federal actions could require new procedures or equipment, recommended raising election judge pay to $14 and clerks to $13, and outlined options for ballot‑on‑demand systems and vendor changes.
Cricket, Parker County's elections official, presented the elections office budget and outlined staffing, equipment and legislative changes that could affect the county. She proposed raising pay for election judges from $11 to $14 per hour and clerks from $10 to $13, saying the office can do that without additional county funding for the non‑November elections because entity contracts cover May election salaries.
She also explained new state and federal developments affecting voting systems. Citing an "executive order from the president," Cricket said federal guidance could trigger recertification of voting systems within 180 days and noted that some systems previously decertified contained barcodes that encoded vote information; she emphasized Parker County's QR codes do not contain vote selections. She described a ballot‑on‑demand option (the Vanguard/Heart system) and estimated a county‑wide conversion could cost in the low millions for new devices, and she warned of operational issues such as lack of battery backup at all sites and longer print times.
Commissioners asked for follow‑up on equipment life (voting machines typically 10–15 years) and for a proposed contract termination timeline with the current vendor; Cricket said she would seek a new scanning vendor and work with purchasing on contract timing. No formal action was taken; the court directed the budget committee to review potential cost and operational implications.
