DAVENPORT, Iowa — Iowa State Auditor Rob Sand has released a report detailing unauthorized pay raises given to temporary election officials in several Iowa counties during in 2020 elections.
According to the report, Sand's office found that multiple counties, including Scott County, used Help America Vote Act (HAVA) funds to pay additional wages and reimbursements to temporary precinct election officials (PEOs), during the June 2 primary election and Nov. 3 general election.
Of the 16 counties that were reviewed:
- Seven counties paid a higher hourly rate than was approved by their respective Boards or included additional unauthorized pay, such as hazard pay. Funds spent in this manner totaled $37,353.53.
- Five counties weren't able to provide documentation that included county board approval for pay rates.
- Eight counties had discrepancies in the number of hours paid or the number of miles reimbursed for temporary PEOs.
There is no evidence suggesting the unauthorized payments were a part of an attempt to commit election fraud.
In Scott County, the payroll system logged 4,128.185 hours worked; 1,426.435 more hours than was reported by the PEO's hours work documentation.
"Well, fortunately, what we found was compliance with the federal law. All of the HAVA dollars were used in the way that they were supposed to," Auditor Sand explained. "The problems that we found were restricted to a state law, Iowa Code Chapter 49.20, relating to the fact that the law requires that county auditors pay their temporary workers, for election days, in an amount that is set by their local Board of Supervisors. And that process was what we were finding problems with repeatedly."
This resulted in $12,656.85 worth of unauthorized additional payments, for a total of $41,291.85 in paid wages. The authorized pay total was around $28,600.
The $12,656,85 figure also includes a payment of $750 that was paid to 15 temporary PEOs in flat installments of $50 each, which was also not approved by the Board.
When the investigation was first launched, former Scott County Auditor Roxanne Moritz said that she believed she had the authority to increase the hourly wage to $15.
Moritz said she raised the pay rate in an effort to keep PEOs from quitting the job and acknowledged her failure to seek Board approval, saying that it was a simple mistake on her end.
Officials added that there were no reports of non-compliance with HAVA requirements in any of the tested counties.
Following the results of the investigation, Auditor Sand issued a recommendation that procedures be implemented at the county level to ensure pay rates are properly approved, documented, calculated and distributed.
He also recommended the Secretary of State's Office periodically review temporary PEO pay rates used by county auditor's offices during elections.
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