WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners are reviewing a proposal that would allow county employees to be paid their daily salaries while being poll workers on election days.

Under the proposal, county employees who are working as poll workers during primary, general and special elections would be able to receive their base salaries for their typical work days, as well as income earned by every other poll worker during the generally 14-hour election days.

Poll workers are paid $133 on election days, as well as $25 for each of the two training days required by the Trumbull County Board of Elections to learn the process.

Edrea Mientkiewicz, deputy director of the Trumbull County Board of Elections, brought the proposal to the commissioners last week, saying the board has been struggling to attract a new generation of people willing to serve as poll workers.

Offering county employees an opportunity to serve, without losing the day’s pay, is permitted under Ohio law, Mientkiewicz said.

Commissioners tabled a vote on the proposal.

Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa wanted time to review the resolution before deciding his position. Commissioner Niki Frenchko expressed concern about how county employees are selected to work the polls when multiple people are signing up for the opportunity.

“Poll workers make a small amount of money,” Frenchko said. “To say that we are going to have our taxpayers pay the salaries of our sometimes highly paid workers, I just disagree with this.”

Frenchko said there must be a standard procedure to do this type of program.

“There is no procedure for deciding which employees are permitted to participate,” she said.

Commissioner Denny Malloy said many other counties around the state are doing this.

The number of people signing up to work the polls has been declining, Mientkiewicz said.

The county must have 632 poll workers available on election days to be fully staffed. The state requires the county to have 20% more people available, or about 720 people, ready to work.

“We have people who call in that morning and say they cannot work,” Mientkiewicz said. “Then, at 5 a.m., we’re calling around attempting to find people to work the polls. It can be difficult because people make plans.”

Other Ohio counties, including Mahoning, Lucas, Cuyahoga, Lorain and Franklin, already have passed similar legislation to encourage employees to work the polls.

If the resolution passes, it will affect county employees who are registered Trumbull County voters. They must work at polls in Trumbull County.

“Supervisors have the right to approve or deny a county worker’s request to work the polls on election days based on the department’s operational needs,” Trumbull County Human Resources Director Alexandra DeVengencie-Bush said. “A department that does not have enough employees to fulfill its needs can deny the employee’s request to work the polls.”

Mientkiewicz said finding enough poll workers is a problem happening to boards of elections across the state.

“We have not been in a position where we have had to close a polling site,” Mientkiewicz said. “We might have had to move people from one precinct position to another while looking to find someone to fill their position. We’ve found ways to make it work.

“It seems like it’s been harder and harder to recruit new poll workers. We have election workers that have been with us for 30 to 40 years. These people amaze me.”

She described reaching out to professional organizations, students and others to find poll workers.

Through the statewide Continuing Legal Education program, attorneys can receive credit for working the polls. Credits or other benefits are available for social workers, accountants and other professionals.

Ohio established this avenue for counties and other governmental bodies to encourage their employees to sign up to become poll workers, she said.

“I’ve spoken to other boards of elections and they can’t believe we have not been utilizing this,” Mientkiewicz said.

If county commissioners approve this effort for the upcoming primary elections, Mientkiewicz expects to reach out to cities like Warren and Niles to see if they are willing to pass similar legislation.

Training for new poll workers is expected to begin later this month. For new poll workers, it takes two days to train. Experienced workers can be trained in a day.

Ohio’s primary election is March 19.