Baltimore County lawmakers in Annapolis are sponsoring what they called long-overdue legislation to boost compensation for Election Day workers at the polls.
The bill introduced in the House of Delegates would hike compensation from $125 for election judges to $150, and create a new position of assistant chief judge. One or two assistant chiefs at each precinct would receive $200 a day for their work and chief judges would receive $225 ? up from $160. Each includes $25 for mandatory three-hour training sessions.
“Our judges have been grossly underpaid for years,” said Jacqueline McDaniel, director of the county?s Board of Elections. “It?s a long day. We should be giving them a financial benefit for this, at least more than the are getting.”
Judges typically work from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. on election days. Last year, election officials speculated inadequate compensation kept many longtime judges from volunteering, forcing them to scramble to find 200 Democratic judges to work the county?s 218 precincts just one month before the November election. It was the first time the county was in need of new judges, according to election officials.
The bipartisan bill will be backed by almost every Baltimore County delegate, said lead sponsor Del. Eric Bromwell, D-District 8. State law requires each jurisdiction to hire a specified number of judges for each precinct ? ranging from six to eight,according to election officials ? and should be changed to adequately compensate them, Bromwell said. He said the measure will bring compensation in Baltimore County in line with other counties.
Del. Jon Cardin, D-District 11, a bill supporter and member of the House Ways and Means committee, said other lawmakers will want to know how much the measure will increase the board?s state-funded budget and if that?s manageable.
“We want to have open, free and transparent elections but we want to have volunteers who are capable of doing their jobs,” Cardin said. “The best way to do that is appreciate them.”
