Title
Resolution to Approve New Election Inspector Pay Scales
Memorandum
The attached resolution proposes to raise the various rates of election inspectors’ pay by about $1.00 per hour. By City Charter (Section 13.7), City Council must set election personnel pay rates and the last time it did so was 1995, at which time Ann Arbor instituted the highest election worker pay rates in Washtenaw County.
Since that time, Ann Arbor’s rates have remained fixed, while neighboring jurisdictions in Washtenaw County have continued to increase their pay rates. With one of the lowest pay rates in Washtenaw County, election inspector recruitment efforts have become increasingly difficult for the City Clerk’s Office. By law, election inspectors can be appointed to work the polls in any precinct in the county where they are registered to vote, which has meant the loss of some Ann Arbor poll workers to other jurisdictions within Washtenaw County. For example, the City of Ypsilanti pays $9.00 per hour for election inspectors compared to $8.00 in Ann Arbor. The City of Saline pays $11.75 for inspectors and $13.00 for chairpersons, compared to $11.25 for chairs in Ann Arbor. Scio Township offers between $10.00 and $12.00. In addition, many of the smaller townships in the County provide meals on election days, which is not a practical option in Ann Arbor.
An election inspector must report for work at 6:00 a.m. and the typical election day is about 16 hours long. Due to the challenges with recruitment and the additional cost of training, we do not offer split shifts. The chairperson assigned to each precinct must contend with voter registration problems, poll challengers, and provisional ballots, in addition to the regular processing of voters. In busy even-year elections, the stream of voters can be almost non-stop from the opening of the polls at 7:00 a.m. until the closing at 8:00 p.m. As elections become more technologically complex, more and more is being expected of election ...
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