Philadelphia City Commissioners To End Double-Dipping By Poll Workers
By Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Working Election Day in Philadelphia will no longer mean that hundreds of municipal poll workers will collect double pay.
Elected in November, and on the job since January, city commissioner Stephanie Singer says a previous audit by the city controller's office found some poll workers applying for and getting double pay.
"By this I mean one person working for one day, and getting paid for two jobs," Singer explains. "We're stopping it."
She says it's not fiscally responsible, and may be illegal.
"And it's certainly not fair to all of the people out there who would like to work on the election boards," Singer adds.
She acknowledges that they'll have to do a better job of recruiting workers to pull election day duty. A staff report in the commissioners' office indicated more than 300 people were paid for multiple election day jobs in November.
During most elections, each of the city's 1,687 polling places has five paid positions for the 14-hour shift: a judge of elections, a majority inspector, a minority inspector, a clerk, and a machine inspector.
