Polling place workers deserve hazard pay

Dear Editor:

Going to work and coming home in the dark is not unusual for poll workers. But in addition to answering a “report for duty time” of 5 a.m., poll workers (many of whom are 60 older) were asked this year to work on the front lines of COVID-19 exposure.

After spring voting in Wisconsin, over 50 voters or poll workers tested positive for COVID. In Illinois, multiple primary poll workers fell ill, and one died.

Poll workers are a committed bunch. We take our job seriously, and protecting people’s right to vote is paramount. But we should not be expected to risk our lives without financial consideration similar to that afforded other frontline workers. “COVID 19 Heroes” funding has been proposed or enacted by various states and municipalities, and in Congress.

Many poll workers are retired, elderly or on a fixed income. Working election days is not a luxury; it’s seen as a civic duty. Hazard pay would not be an ongoing expense. It also would attract more youths to work.

Federal stimulus bills certainly could include us, but alternatively, states could add extra pay to their election budgets. Concentrating polling places already is occurring, leading to even more exposure while saving money on personnel. And new technology, while helpful, has not diminished interpersonal contact; in fact, it has increased.

An extra $1,000 plus free COVID testing (for both the virus and antibodies) for each election would not only help safeguard our voting but would help safeguard lives.

Gina Walker Fox, Richard Barone, Beverly Kane, Linda Toback, Stephanie Williams and

Veronica Todriff The writers are Rhinebeck

polling place workers.