Give Poll Workers a Raise

Give Poll Workers a Raise

by Mark Luedtke

Ohio is having trouble getting enough poll workers, so naturally Democrat Jennifer Brunner wants to solve that problem by use of force. Secretary of State Brunner didn't try to start discussion on possible solutions. She isn't suggesting several proposals for debate. She jumped directly to using the force of the state to draft Ohioans as poll workers, and she wants the legislature to make her proposal law.

The problem is Ohio currently has only about 47,000 precinct poll workers. That's just 4.4 workers per precinct and law requires 4 poll workers at every precinct. The national average is 6.9. Clearly we have a shortage, and since the average age of our workers is 72, we can expect some no shows. We need to get more poll workers to restore confidence in Ohio's election process.

Brunner's proposed solution is to draft registered voters to work the polls. She would demand they attend training Friday and Monday before the election, and work shifts during the election, augmenting the current poll work force. Brunner hasn't worked out the details of her plan, but it will have to include some penalty for non-compliance with the draft. This plan evokes visions of enforcers marching the conscripts to the precincts.

If implemented, Ohio would be the only state in the union to force its citizens to work the polls, and not just because of that terrible perception of draft enforcers. Forcing citizens to work against their will is unconstitutional. A level of competence and confidence is required of poll workers that can't be met by forcing uninterested and unwilling citizens to do that work, and relying on conscripts would cast more doubt on Ohio's election process, not less. Citizens fearing this draft would lead to lower voter registration as well - a problem we don't need to make worse.

Brunner compares her idea to jury duty, but the contrasts far outweigh any similarities. Jurors do not have to be trained. The requirement for jury duty is based on the right of the accused to a jury of his peers – there is no such analog for voting. To insure a fair trail, jurors should not be made up exclusively of people who want to be on a jury. Poll workers should want to work the polls, and return year after year.

There are any number of far better solutions to this problem. Some suggest county employees could work the polls. County business is generally slow on election day, and the ready made pool of workers could be trained at any time. One problem with using county workers, though, is that they work for people on the ballot, and that creates at least a perception of impropriety.

The Secretary of State could work with universities and high-schools to recruit younger workers. No doubt civics and government teachers and political science professors would like to see their students get involved in the election process. A little extra credit and free pizza could go a long way toward recruiting students to work the polls, and have the added advantage of getting young people involved.

Ohio's sky-rocketing tax rates are already chasing jobs out of state, and Brunner's plan to forcibly take business' employees for three days without compensation can only aggravate that problem. We would be better served by engaging with employers, forming public/private partnerships that serve both business and government, and provide workers for the polls.

More radical ideas are being used in Colorado and Oregon. Larimer County, CO. replaced its traditional precinct model and instead created several large voting centers in the county. Residents can vote at any center they choose. Oregon makes it easier for everybody to vote by mail. Both these methods require far fewer poll workers, but the vote by mail option opens up voters to potential coercion that polls are designed to prevent.

All of these social engineering alternatives are superior to Brunner's plan, but I have a simpler idea: pay poll workers more to attract more and younger citizens. A better paid workforce is a better motivated workforce, and that would go a long way toward restoring confidence in Ohio's election process. Right now workers are paid about $95 a day. The Secretary of State should recruit poll workers and provide whatever compensation that supplies enough quality workers to meet the state's demand. Advertise. Market. Recruit. Free market forces create optimum solutions.

Brunner's plan is a power grab. To implement her plan, she would need new resources for her office to identify the draftees, organize them, and hunt down the draft dodgers and bring them to justice. These new resources mean more money and more power for her office. This does not translate to better elections – just the opposite. More bureaucracy means worse execution.

This issue is another example of Americans' misguided dependence on big government. We see it with education, health care, and now elections. Government always makes the problems worse, but our subsequent solutions involve ever more government. It's a self-destructive spiral. We shouldn't socially engineer solutions to these problems. The free market is smarter than any centralized planning. Let it work.