NC election directors grapple with pay, politics and more pressure than ever

Across North Carolina, 100 people are responsible for making sure every registered voter in their county has a chance to cast their ballot in every election.

The position of county election director is one that has drastically increased in complexity over the years as voting, list maintenance and campaign finance processes become highly technical endeavors subject to frequent legislative change.

Faced with increased workloads, hostility from the public and inadequate pay, some directors feel the counties they work for “don’t understand the true nature and demand that elections offices are navigating today,” said Patrick Wike, the elections director in Alexander County.

Since 2019, there have been 60 changes in county election directors, mostly due to retirements or resignations.

Losing experienced directors means losing valuable institutional knowledge, Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections, told a legislative committee in April. For about 30 directors, 2024 will be the first time they’ve ever served in the position during a presidential election.

To examine the situation election directors find themselves in, The News & Observer requested salary information for directors in all 100 counties and conducted interviews with directors across the state. All counties responded with salary data.

Though all of these directors have similar responsibilities, their salaries, staff and experiences differ greatly. Most agree, however, that the job is getting more difficult — and more important — with every election.

How much do election directors make?

The median salary among North Carolina’s county election directors is just under $70,000, according to data from all 100 counties provided by boards of elections and human resources departments.

While election directors in major population centers like Wake County make nearly $200,000 a year, some directors in rural areas like Hyde and Graham counties make less than $41,000.

Election directors’ salaries are determined by the counties they work in. The only guidance state law gives is that directors must be paid at least $12 an hour — less than $25,000 a year.

Salaries for directors are recommended by the county board of elections and approved by the county commissioners. Years of experience, performance and available resources all factor into the salary a county approves.

Substantial experience doesn’t always translate to higher pay, though.

Clytia Riddick, who has served as the elections director in Gates County for 14 years, currently makes $43,610 a year.

All of the directors included in the N&O’s analysis make more than the median earnings in their county, according to Census statistics. But that doesn’t mean some directors aren’t still living check to check.

“I think everybody’s having a hard time in their own way right now — I’m one of them,” Robert Webb, director of the Caswell County Board of Elections, said.

Webb, who has worked for the county for 15 years and spent nearly six years as director, currently makes $55,617.

Part of how election directors are paid has to do with how their jobs are classified in the counties where they work.

Jobs classified in higher tiers are paid more, but Sara LaVere, president of the N.C. Association of Directors of Elections, said election directors tend to be classified lower than other department heads, like library and parks and recreation directors.

“You almost always will see that the elections director is toward the bottom of the pay scale,” she said.

Jennifer King, the elections director in Jones County, said that a recent salary study determined that the pay grade for her position was underclassified by six pay grades — translating to a $15,000 difference in starting salary.

“One factor contributing to this disparity is the perception that election-related responsibilities are less critical compared to other ongoing departmental functions, especially since voting occurs intermittently rather than daily,” King said in an email to The N&O.

But elections are a year-round job requiring frequent management of voter databases and election machinery. In 2017, the Department of Homeland Security designated election systems as critical infrastructure, declaring that incapacity or destruction of these systems “would have a debilitating impact on security,” under federal law.

The size and wealth of counties also factors into the salaries directors are paid. The state’s most populous counties like Wake and Mecklenburg also offer the highest salaries for their directors.

More voters in these areas means more work for the directors — but also more staff to distribute the workload among.

In several counties, like Caswell, the director is the only full-time elections worker and must carry out most of the county’s election work by themselves.

While most directors The N&O spoke with acknowledged the necessity of tailoring salaries by county, several hoped for more oversight in the process.

“The state could provide some uniformity to where directors are paid proportionally for their work and expertise,” said Wike, the elections director in Alexander County.

An apolitical job subject to political whims

As the political climate becomes more corrosive and groups continue to spread former President Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, directors also report facing increased hostility and harassment from the public.

A recent survey from the left-leaning Brennan Center for Justice found that 38% of election officials reported being harassed, abused or threatened because of their jobs.

“There’s people that come in here and you can tell by the way they talk, the way they treat us — they already have it in their mind that something is a certain way,” Webb said. “It’s gonna be hard to change their mind, they’ve drank the Kool-Aid.”

He added that he faced less hostility on a daily basis when he worked at a local prison.

Melissa Parker, the elections director in Davie County, said her predecessor quit after being invited to a local Republican meeting where she was bombarded with questions about alleged fraud in the 2020 election.

With more public scrutiny than ever before, the pressure on election workers is immense, King said.

“Any perceived error or mistake, no matter how minor, can quickly be misconstrued as intentional wrongdoing, fueling distrust in the electoral process,” she said.

Most of the elections directors the N&O spoke with noted rapidly changing election laws as one of the most difficult aspects of their jobs.

Last year, state Republicans passed sweeping changes to election procedures, including shortening the deadline to receive mail-in ballots, empowering partisan poll observers and banning the use of private funds for election administration.

The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled last year that the state’s voter ID requirement, originally passed in 2018, would also go into effect after having been blocked in earlier court decisions.

Since many election changes are challenged in court, laws can be suddenly blocked or reimplemented with little notice to the election workers that have to carry them out.

In 2021, competing orders from appellate courts halted candidate filing, then restarted it, then stopped it again and pushed the primary election back two months.

“These rapid changes necessitate last-minute revisions to forms, documentation and training materials, putting a strain on election officials who must scramble to ensure compliance and accuracy,” King said.

Will the state take action?

Brinson Bell has frequently reminded lawmakers about the critical nature of elections and requested funding for more support staff and upgrades to technology and resources.

She’s also advocated for county directors, telling the Joint Legislative Committee on Elections last month that turnover is a major concern as “election professionals have faced continued hostility, harassment, substantial changes in their workload and the demands on them.”

Sen. Jim Perry, a Lenoir County Republican, noted that the state didn’t track turnover in county election directors prior to 2019, making it difficult to tell if the phenomenon is new.

“I do appreciate the loss of institutional knowledge, so I get that,” he said. “But just in looking at this data on the number of changes ... it just doesn’t feel that monumental to me.”

Brinson Bell herself faces an uncertain future as executive director.

Last year, Republicans passed Senate Bill 749 to restructure state and local election boards. One of the changes in the law gives lawmakers the chance to hire an executive director for the state board if the board itself can’t agree. Given that the law would make the state board evenly spit between Republicans and Democrats — a tied vote is well within the realm of possibility.

A panel of Superior Court judges struck down SB 749 in March, but the law could be reinstituted on appeal to a higher court.

Despite the uncertainty and challenges of the job, directors say the work can be rewarding.

“It’s kind of in your blood and it’s almost addicting because you have that adrenaline,” Parker said. “Even though it’s difficult, a lot of us don’t want to leave.”

News & Observer database editor David Raynor contributed to this story.

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