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by timthelion 3124 days ago
"Judges in the city are paid $100 per election they preside over" For a days work, that's not much for a one off job even by central European standards. It seems to me, that the pay should be increased.
4 comments

On the one hand, a lower salary ensures people don't do it for the money. On the other hand, low pay can restrict the candidate to wealthier or higher-income individuals. This is a challenge in deciding out how much to compensate people for service, not just for a one-off such as this but for longer-term and more time-consuming roles as well.
Usually the argument that not enough money tempts people toward corruption.
Maybe pay each person the same rate they earn in their day job.
So if a person makes millions of dollars a day they get paid millions from taxes but if an unemployed person does the same job they get paid nothing? I'm not sure that's an improvement.
I was imagining there would be a minimum and maximum rate.
This only works if they're forced to take unpaid time off for polling, or indeed if they're employed at the time of the election.
In the last German election I got paid 50€ for a similar position (well below minimum wage) which is already more then usual. Let's just say nobody does that for the money.
By comparison, here in Australia, for federal elections, pay rates for polling officials working on election day range from AUD$409 up to AUD$989 + $63 retirement superannuation.

$100 is just astoundingly low.

Things like that are regarded as a civic contribution, serving your community. It's the same fundamental reason jury duty is a very low pay task.
Considering there are no qualifications required, it's $12.5/hr, which is 66% more than the minimum wage of $7.25.