Linda Phillips, Administrator of Elections, and Chairman Luttrell (Chairman Lucknow in the transcript) briefed the budget subcommittee on March 19 about staffing, pay and operational needs ahead of 2026 elections.

Phillips said the office is preparing for a busy 2026 cycle, including a probable primary and many open seats, and that the office expects a large number of candidates. She said the office’s most pressing problems are salary compression among full-time administrative staff, a need for an additional supervisor to manage voter services during elections, and higher poll-worker pay.

Why it matters: Elections offices rely on temporary and seasonal staff each cycle; salary compression and inadequate supervision can increase mistakes and reduce responsiveness for voters and candidates.

Key requests and context

- Salary compression: Phillips explained that long-tenured administrative employees now make only slightly more than temporary workers hired for elections because temporary pay rates have risen. She asked the subcommittee for $27,000 to provide raises for nine people (an average of about $1.53/hour in Phillips’s estimate) to correct compression.

- Voter services manager: Phillips asked for a new permanent voter services manager (position at a pay grade she described as roughly $65,000 plus fringe) to supervise up to 19 temporary voter-service staff during election peaks and to produce training materials and manage special projects outside elections.

- Poll worker pay increase: Phillips proposed raising poll-worker pay from about $15/hour to $20/hour. She estimated the cost at approximately $40,000 for a non-presidential election and about $100,000 in a presidential year; actual amounts vary by number of poll workers used.

- Enhanced election-night reporting: Phillips described an “enhanced voting” election-night reporting system the office tested in recent elections. She said it corrected known problems with the prior reporting tool (notably precinct reporting counts) and that the vendor-provided system was funded within the office’s existing O&M budget, so she was not seeking additional funding for it.

Quotes and evidence

- “Poll workers are the backbone of our elections and they haven't been increased since 2021,” Linda Phillips said of her pay proposal.
- Phillips said the enhanced election-night reporting system is “vastly better” than the prior system and that it solves a longstanding problem where early-voting card uploads made it appear all precincts had reported.

What commissioners asked and next steps

Commissioners asked whether the department was proposing new voting machines (it was not) and requested written backup on specific pay-grade and cost details. Phillips said she would provide detailed documentation for the subcommittee to consider. No votes were taken; this was a presentation for FY26 budget planning.

Ending

Phillips said the office will provide written cost details and requested position descriptions and urged commissioners to consider pay-compression and poll-worker-pay increases before the 2026 election cycle.