Tradition of delayed voting day paychecks to get tested

The Philadelphia City Commissioners are worried about paying poll workers next year on a timely basis. 

In April 2012 Pennsylvania holds its Presidential primary and Bob Lee of the City Commissioners, which oversees elections in Philadelphia, said they won’t have the money to pay the people who run polling places until the new budget year begins.

“Given the current April 24th election date, if we had to follow the same process and wait until the next fiscal year July 1, to have sufficient funds to pay the poll workers, the poll workers would be waiting 10 weeks for their check, 68 to 70 days,” Lee said.

In a normal election year the primary is in May and the wait to get paid is shorter. Officials from the Mayor’s office said they will review the payment, and determine if a mid-year budget transfer is necessary.