Poll workers still waiting for Election Day payment

NORRISTOWN » A number of Montgomery County poll workers have not been compensated for working the 2021 general election in November.

“They (the payments) are late this year. We do acknowledge that they are going out later than usual,” said Dori Sawyer, Montgomery County’s director of elections.

Montgomery County Commissioners’ Vice Chairman Ken Lawrence Jr. told MediaNews Group he found out about the issue earlier this week after getting emails and seeing comments on a thread of Wednesday’s COVID-19 press briefing livestream on the county’s Facebook page.

He addressed the matter in his opening comments during Thursday morning’s Montgomery County Board of Commissioners meeting.

“We’re still working with voter services to figure out why this took so long, but we apologize for the delay,” he said. “It’s not acceptable for two months after the election for this to occur.”

Montgomery County has approximately 2,500 poll workers, according to Sawyer, who classified people working various positions as “Election Day personnel.” These roles include mail-in ballot canvassers, poll workers, rovers, and tabulators, she said.

Sawyer said that payment differs by positions: judges of elections are paid $300, and poll workers are paid $225 for their time working on Election Day. She added that wages for mail-in ballot canvassers “vary based on what hours they work.”

There is $1.2 million allocated for poll worker compensation as part of the Montgomery County Office of Voter Services’ budget, according to Montgomery County Communications Director Kelly Cofrancisco.

Two Montgomery County poll workers ex