Over the years the number of registered voters in Chatham County has steadily increased to nearly 225,000, polling locations have increased from 70 to more than 90 and the number of election equipment being sent to polling locations has increased from two to five, but staffing at the Chatham County Board of Elections (BOE) has remained unchanged.
On Friday the Chatham County Board of Commissioners approved six new full-time positions and reclassified two others in an effort to keep up with the growing pace. The annual salaries and benefits costs of the new positions is estimated to be $422,537.
Currently the BOE has only four full-time staff members along with nearly two dozen temporary staff members and the issues caused by the shortage haven't gone unnoticed.
Credit: savannahnow.com
Credit: savannahnow.com
"The midterm elections in 2018 were a mess and part of the reason for that mess, is we didn't have enough staff… It was a miracle in 2018, that the midterms in Chatham County didn't come off the rails," Chatham County Supervisor of Elections Billy Wooten told the Savannah Morning News earlier this week.
"Then they changed the system, the state got our equipment tripled, our work level went way up, and we still didn't do anything. So this has been coming."
The process of creating the positions took about a year with the BOE looking at how election offices in other Georgia counites structured staff and job titles.
The new positions approved this week include an elections officer, elections assistant, elections systems and equipment supervisor, elections systems and equipment specialist and two elections coordinators.
"... (The BOE) worked through HR with the county develop a draft plan, a draft organization chart, a draft of new job titles and new job descriptions to bring them into the 2022 era, so that the job descriptions and the job titles were indicative of what people were actually doing," Wooten said of the process.
Credit: Richard Burkhart
Credit: Richard Burkhart
There will still be a need for temporary for seasonal warehouse, training and office jobs, just not as many, Wooten said. According to public documents, in FY21, the BOE spent approximately $309,000 on temporary staffing; that number is now expected to be reduced to about $62,000 annually.
A couple of the new positions will assist with training and poll worker recruitment, which is an ongoing process throughout the year. Wooten said new poll workers are signing up nearly every day.
"We have way more than 1,000 people on our list and we have new people every day that come in and sign up," he said, adding that people are still encouraged to apply to be a poll worker.
“... If a person were to sign up now, we may or may not use them in May, but we probably would use them in June, but we welcome people to apply.”
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News
Wooten said he was appreciative to county and BOE leadership for approving the changes. "Everybody has recognized we've got to change this," he said.
Following Friday's unanimous vote to approve the positions, BOE Chairman Tom Mahoney echoed Wooten's appreciation and said the reorganization had been a long term goal for the BOE.
“We really appreciate y’all’s vote and support for that reorganization and funding it to make it a reality," he said.
Katie Nussbaum is the city and county government reporter for the Savannah Morning News. Contact her at knussbaum@savannahnow.com. Twitter: KnussSMN
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: More voters, more locations and more equipment in Chatham. Now, finally, more election workers
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