Fort Wright is taking measures against any possible shortage of poll workers for the upcoming 2023 primary election.
To prepare, the city council passed Executive Order 04-2023 on Wednesday. This order allows city employees to serve as poll workers at an increased salary.
City employees have always been permitted to work the polls on election day. Now, they will be paid their regular wage during the elections as well as the poll worker’s stipend.
“It’s more of an incentive,” Mayor Dave Hatter said. “[City employees] have always been allowed to work polls, we just weren’t paying them [their regular wage]. This keeps them from having to burn a vacation day working the polls.”
Under this executive order, any city employee meeting Kenton County’s poll worker requirements could apply, but the mayor would also have to approve them.
This order only applies to the 2023 primary election and would terminate afterward. However, Hatter said, “We may very well renew it.”
This idea was born out of a Kenton County Mayor’s Group meeting where Kenton County clerk, Gabrielle Summe, addressed the issues during the November 2022 general election. Lines at Kenton County polling centers were incredibly long and voters reported 2-hour wait times.
Several factors contributed to that issue, including a shortage of poll workers in Kenton County, Summe said. Someone at the meeting brought up the idea for city employees to have a paid day to work the polls.
Hatter liked the sound of this and brought it back to the city council to discuss and vote on. Hatter told council, “We need more poll workers, that’s an issue,” and “This feels safe enough to try.”
According to Fort Wright city officials, Summe has stated that Kenton County currently has enough poll workers for the upcoming primary election.
This information prompted some city council members, including Scott Wall and Margie Witt, to express doubts about the necessity of the order. Witt asked if council could postpone voting on this issue until a future election, when there may be more need for it.
Hatter pointed out that a lack of poll workers isn’t a problem until it’s a problem.
“Hopefully, this will be a moot point,” he said. But “we don’t know what will happen between now and election day.”
If there are any egregious issues, they would allow the order to expire after the 2023 primary election. However, if it is beneficial or harmless, they may renew the order to apply to future Kenton County elections.
LINK nky asked Dr. Shauna Reilly, a political science professor at Northern Kentucky University with expertise on elections, if there are any potential risks associated with incentivizing city employees to work elections. She said there is some risk in terms of perceptions of the election.
“The perception that there may be connections to the outcome of the election,” Reilly said. “None of the poll workers work independently, so coercion/malfeasance should be limited, but perceptions can also damage the integrity of the election.”
Fort Wright is mitigating this risk with a stipulation laid out in the order which bars city employees from wearing a uniform or badge associated with their position when working the polls. City attorney Timothy Theissen said that this is a guard against influencing the vote.
Hatter and Theissen addressed all of these concerns, some anticipated and some brought forth by council, and explained that this is an opportunity for Fort Wright to be a pioneer in promoting civic engagement among their employees.
“I think it’s worth it,” Hatter said. “This might show leadership and could influence other cities and businesses to do the same.”
If this were the case, it could raise the number of poll workers applying to work on election days.
Hatter and Theissen assure council and citizens that they will monitor and review the impacts of the order.
The executive order passed unanimously.