Free voters are calling for election workers to get more money in Dachau. The city is positive about the proposal and hopes to win more citizens for the office of electoral assistant.
Dachau - On October 24, 2021, the residents of the large district town will be called to the ballot box for the next time. A host of volunteer election workers will ensure that the vote goes smoothly and the results are counted promptly.
Sure, the electoral aid is not completely free. In Dachau there is currently 50 euros of so-called refreshment money. However, the group of free voters and alliance for Dachau recently found, this amount is quite low compared to the neighboring municipalities; And: If the counting lasts until Monday, there is no expense allowance for these overtime hours.
For the city councilors Markus Erhorn and Horst Ullmann this is an absurdity, which is why they are now calling for "greater esteem" for the election workers - as well as a substantial increase in the refreshment allowance to 75 euros. "Especially in the past local elections, our election workers did a wonderful job," praises Erhorn, "despite the uncertainty caused by the corona virus, they sacrificed many hours on a voluntary basis."
In fact, the municipal election took place on March 15 - a day after Tyrol was officially declared a Corona risk area and many winter sports enthusiasts had just come out of their skiing holidays. The risk of becoming infected with Covid-19 was therefore high in those March days - especially for election workers who always had to work in exchange with the other helpers, closely packed in polling stations, with envelopes moving back and forth. Josef Hermann, chief official in the Dachau town hall, but reassured: "From the election" no case of a corona infection was known. The implementation of the election, which is already arranged at the state level, was also carried out under strict security requirements.
Hermann's attitude towards the free voters / citizens for Dachau is fundamentally positive, "we wanted to do that anyway," he explains. The amount of the current refreshment allowance was determined in 2012. Since it was “not easy” to find volunteer helpers, an increase in the refreshment allowance could serve as “recognition and motivation”. For comparison: Karlsfeld paid his helpers 80 euros in March, Röhrmoos 75 euros and Indersdorf 100 euros. According to Markus Erhorn, the city of Munich even gave “up to 180 euros”.
Hermann differentiates between the individual elections: the municipal and state elections are "more complicated" to count, around 400 election workers are required for this. Finally, in the March election, the votes for the mayor and district election were counted on Sunday evening, and on Monday the votes for the city council and district council election. The helpers were busy until Monday evening.
The head of the office is not yet able to determine how high the refreshment allowance should be. The city council must decide that, and the question also depends on the budget situation. According to Hermann, the decision should be made before the summer break.
The search for election workers for the Bundestag election in October 2021 does not begin until one year from now. However, anyone who feels motivated by the prospect of a higher refreshment allowance to help with the election, says Hermann, “can register today. We have a reserve list there ”.