Auditor responds to county commissioners' concerns on election worker pay

Wichita County Auditor Cheryll Jones has responded to discussions at recent County Commissioners Court meetings regarding the timeliness of pay to election workers in the March 5 Republican primaries.

She said in a statement to the Times Record News she wanted to clarify information on election workers' payroll.

“The Auditor’s Office has not changed its policies or procedures regarding election workers and have had no issues related to worker pay until November 2023. It is clear there are some issues that may need to be adjusted so the citizens of Wichita County who choose to work elections get paid in a timely manner and the County doesn’t break any payroll laws to do so,” she said.

She also said, “As of the Commissioners’ Court meeting on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, I had approved all but eight workers to be paid, so all but eight were already scheduled to be paid.”

Jones said Incomplete paperwork was sent to the Auditor’s Office late on March 14 to start being audited on March 18.

“Some or all of the requested paperwork was missing for 82 of the workers. A major piece of the missing documents was not received until the afternoon of April 1. The first paycheck that any election worker could have been paid on is April 5,” she said.

Jones said the paperwork for the remaining people who could not be verified was obtained personally by a staff member in the Auditor’s Office on Tuesday afternoon.

“As of April 3, 2024, all election workers are scheduled to be paid on April 5, 2024,” she said.

At their meeting Tuesday, commissioners passed a motion to order the County Treasurer’s Office to pay the workers by Friday.

The Democratic Party paid its workers directly for the primary while the Republican Party contracted with the county to handle the pay.

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This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Auditor responds to commissioners' concerns on election worker pay