Even before last year’s election failures, the incoming county clerk wanted to make some changes to the way Johnson County residents vote.
In addition to recent changes with the county’s election vendors, County Clerk Trena McLaughlin, who took office Jan. 1, wants voting to be a smoother and more appealing process for both voters and poll workers.
The Election Board this week approved raising pay by $5 to $15 per day for residents who sign up to operate the vote centers in future elections, including this year’s municipal, which is less than 12 weeks away. That includes judges, clerks, inspectors, the Democrat who returns with the inspector and anyone who works a split-shift.
"They put in a lot of hours. You figure if someone works from 5 a.m., the polls close at 6 p.m. and they don’t get out of there until after 7 p.m., that’s at least 13 hours. We just felt like, because we appreciate all of the hard work that they do for the voters, we wanted to compensate them fairly," McLaughlin said.
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The change will hopefully attract more poll workers as well, she said.
In the past, poll workers made anywhere from $70 to $185. Now, inspectors will make $200.
She has been considering more poll workers and vote centers since before she took office last month, because even without the recent equipment failure, lines were too long and the poll workers overworked, she has said. The Election Board and Board of Commissioners recently committed to buying or renting all new equipment for this year’s election.
One reason the county can’t hire everyone who wants to work the polls is because they have to have an equal number of Republicans and Democrats, and fewer Democrats than Republicans apply for the positions.
McLaughlin said she’s working to set up a meeting with Republican Party Chairwoman Beth Boyce and Election Board member Cindy Rapp, who manages the Democrat poll workers, for next month so they can discuss other ways they might be able to attract more workers from both parties so that every vote center will have more workers.
Typically, they like to see at least five to 11 poll workers per site, depending on the history of turnout at each site. But preferably, they would have even more than that, and they would like them to have the option of working split-shifts, or at least be able to take actual breaks during the day, McLaughlin said.
During the municipal elections in 2015, the county hired 67 poll workers for 13 vote centers, which meant each site could have at least five.
During last year’s elections, there were 144 poll workers during the primary in May, and 187 during the election in November for 20 vote centers, which meant each site could have at least nine.
The number of workers and polling places will likely go up moving forward, McLaughlin has said repeatedly.
She plans to survey all of the voting sites throughout the county in the coming weeks to see if any centers need to be added, moved, no longer used or set up differently on Election Day, she said.
Already this year, every city and town in Johnson County except New Whiteland will have a primary election, which is rare for a municipal. First Deputy Clerk Reagan Higdon said due to that and the possibility of four public questions on the ballots which could have some precincts that would normally not vote in a municipal election casting ballots, the county will need to have at least 15 to 18 vote centers open.
By comparison, a few more vote centers were open during last year’s mid-term election, which surprised everyone with its massive turnout — 50 percent of registered voters cast ballots, and nearly half did so during early voting. Fewer vote centers were open during the last municipal election in 2015.Â
"It’s hard to judge this upcoming election’s needs based on the 2015 elections because there were so fewer contested races. In the spring of 2015 there wasn’t a race in Trafalgar, New Whiteland, Edinburgh (or) Bargersville. In the fall 2015 election there wasn’t a race in Franklin, New Whiteland (or) Trafalgar," Higdon said.
What that means for polling sites is yet to be determined, but election officials know they need more, especially in the northern part of the county where the bulk of the voting population lives, and especially before next year’s presidential election, McLaughlin said.
Next week, she and Higdon will travel to each of the locations that have been used as vote centers to survey them, McLaughlin said. A full list of locations and changes should be available by the end of the month, she said.
Election Day is May 7.
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Here is a look at how the recently approved pay increases will affect each poll worker position:
Inspectors will make $200 per day; made $185 previously
Democrats who return with inspectors will make $155; made $145 previously
Judges and clerks will make $145; made $135 previously
Split-shift workers will make $75; made $70 previously
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The Election Board also voted to change early voting hours at the Johnson County Courthouse this year. Voters will be able to cast their ballots at the Courthouse in the two weeks leading up to the primary election.
Those hours are as follows:
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. April 22 to May 3;
8:30 a.m. to noon on May 6;
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 27 and May 4.
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