As Election Day approaches, North Carolina has a problem: The state is experiencing a rapid decline in its number of county election officials. In the past five years, 61 election officials have been replaced across North Carolina’s 100 counties, according to the state. Those changes could affect when voters go to the polls.
A Carolina Public Press investigation found that the change was due to low wages. The three-part series is titled “The Election Brain Drain.”
Reporter Mere Scheer joins us now to tell us more.
Marshall Terry: So, every county has an elections commissioner, but what exactly do they do?
Show More: They play a central role in our democracy. Simply put, county-level directors are responsible for preparing and administering elections, a very public role. It includes managing the election board offices and staff, developing election schedules, preparing voting equipment, receiving and submitting election results, investigating complaints, and preparing election budgets. Maintaining accurate records in the state’s Election Information Management System is also one of their many duties.
Terry: So we see that the driving force behind these turnovers is salary. What is the average salary for a county elections commissioner in North Carolina?
Cher: Perhaps to better understand my findings, it is better to discuss the range we are looking at. The lowest hourly wage I am talking about is $19.28, and this is for the Director in Hyde County. The lowest annual salary is $40,000 in Graham County, and the highest based on the data I have collected is about $198,000 in Wake County. In most counties I interviewed, the Directors feel they are not fairly compensated. Election Directors are paid less than most department heads. For example, in some counties, Library Directors are paid more. Also, some counties, especially smaller ones, actually have only one Director, or one Director and one or two full-time employees running the elections.
Another way to understand how this disparity works is to look at state statutes. These statutes are vague statutes that systematically enable pay disparities. Although this statute hasn’t been reviewed since 1999, nearly 25 years ago, this statute sets the minimum wage at $12 per hour, including benefits. Mr. Marshall, there is nothing illegal about what the county currently pays its board members. But the question is, is it fair? My research has shown that it is not. And it is also the cause of our rapid board attrition.
Now, I want to emphasize that based on the data I collected, I couldn’t confirm that any counties were paying the minimum amount, but Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, said the law is outdated. She recognizes the need to increase commission pay to reward the work they do and to retain them.
Terry: Elections have become increasingly tense and sometimes virulent. What role does public hostility towards election officials play?
Cher: Many election commissioners I spoke with across the state said their jobs have become more contentious, demanding and stressful since the 2020 presidential election. For example, Randolph County Election Commissioner Melissa Karstner said it’s a more tense and negative environment for staff and precinct workers. She’s been in the job for more than 13 years. Polk County Election Commissioner Cliff Marr said the work environment is very stressful. And he said, “We only have one chance to get it right, and in an environment that’s constantly changing and unforgiving, there’s no room for any mistakes.”
One of the issues that the Election Commission has to increasingly deal with is election denialism. But also the growing public sentiment and discontent due to changes in the election law. So it’s a very high-pressure environment for the Election Commission and a very public-facing role. Nine counties reported an increase in harassment. Some of it was by email, some by phone, some in person. There were a lot of counties that didn’t report those incidents when I was covering this, but that doesn’t mean there wasn’t harassment at all.
Terry: It seems like there aren’t many job options to choose from, but is that really the case?
Cher: Absolutely. There is a huge loss of organizational knowledge through turnover, and it is very difficult to find highly trained talent for such a demanding, skilled, high-pressure, external-facing job.
Terry: How will all these changes be communicated to the public when they go to vote?
Cher: First, turnover is expensive. It costs taxpayer money to find, hire, and train new staff. This is another way that it impacts the average voter who casts their ballot. While this is a scenario that we have not yet seen in North Carolina and that can be prevented, other places have seen high turnover and vacancies that have led to the closure of entire election boards. So, if we continue down this path, it could lead to the collapse of election offices.
Terry: So what are the solutions? The obvious one is to raise salaries, right? Is there any push to do that?
Cher: Yes. And in my third article, I’ll explore potential solutions and how that may or may not be implemented in North Carolina and how Florida has implemented certain changes. But, Marshall, in a nutshell, the strongest consensus among my sources was a review of state law, a review of how pay is determined. And, yes, ultimately increase pay.
Another easy way would be for the state to issue new guidelines, incentivizing counties to make the increased payments, while providing state funding to make up the increase for counties that don’t have the budget to do so.
And as to whether there is any impetus to do any of these things, I spoke to Senator Jay Chaudhuri, and he said he would like to talk to some stakeholders and explore possible solutions, but he didn’t commit to anything concrete.
This is a bipartisan issue, but I want to emphasize that there is a lack of political will in Congress to address this issue, and the essence of any solution lies in the political will to actually make the changes that are needed.
